“Am I trying hard or harder than others?”: Gender differences in reciprocal relations between perceived effort, science self-concept, and achievement in chemistry

• Criterion effort was positively related to science self-concept for women. • Comparative effort was negatively related to science self-concept for both genders. • Achievement, but not science self-concept, predicted perceived effort for both genders. • Reciprocity between perceived effort and achievement was more pronounced for women. High effort is critical to complete difficult introductory courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. However, high effort can be negatively related to science self-concept (SC) as it can indicate a lack of brilliance in STEM. Further, this relation can be more pronounced for women due to gender stereotypes. To address gender differences in the relations between perceived effort and science SC, in this study, we measured two types of perceived effort: (1) criterion effort (the perception of trying hard) and (2) comparative effort (the perception of trying harder than others), and we examined possible gender differences in their correlates. Overall, we examined whether and to what extent reciprocal relations among two types of perceived effort, science SC, and achievement differ as a function of gender over the course of a semester in introductory chemistry. We utilized multiple-group latent cross-lagged panel analysis with undergraduate students ( N = 690) in introductory chemistry courses in the U.S. Our findings indicate (a) positive roles of criterion effort for women, (b) negative roles of comparative effort for both genders, and (c) reciprocal relations between two types of perceived effort and achievement, which were more pronounced for women, in introductory chemistry. These findings suggest that promoting criterion effort and deemphasizing comparative effort will ultimately encourage science SC and success for both genders in STEM.