Mental Risk‐Taking of Students When Learning Mathematics by Gender: Proposing a Mental Risk‐Taking Filter Model

This study aims to examine the mental risk‐taking skills of Turkish Grade 8 students in mathematics learning, with particular attention to gender differences and the demands of 21st‐century competencies. Drawing directly on qualitative data, the study develops a mental risk‐taking filter model to explain how students’ mathematical task selection is shaped through layered cultural, gendered, and affective mechanisms. The model conceptualizes mental risk‐taking as a process in which mathematical challenges are filtered through multiple constraints, leading students toward either safe or risky task pathways. A multiple case study design was employed. The participants consisted of 52 Grade 8 students selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using a mental risk‐taking skills interview form and semistructured interviews. The data were analyzed through directed content analysis, and the emergent themes and relationships were subsequently synthesized into a data‐driven conceptual model. The findings indicate that male students generally exhibit higher levels of mental risk‐taking than female students in mathematics learning contexts. Students’ mental risk‐taking experiences clustered around three interrelated themes derived from the data: perception of risk, fear of failure, and task selection. The analysis revealed a double filtration effect, particularly for female students, whereby cultural uncertainty avoidance and gender norms jointly suppress willingness to take mathematical risks. Within the model, cultural uncertainty avoidance functions as the broadest filter, intensifying fear of failure and social judgment, while gender norms introduce an additional layer of risk aversion. Fear of failure emerges as the final mechanism directing students toward either safe or risky task choices. According to the data‐driven model, the safe pathway is characterized by preferences for easy or algorithmic tasks and routine problem‐solving, whereas the risky pathway—more frequently observed among male students—supports engagement with challenging and open‐ended tasks, fostering deeper learning and entrepreneurial thinking. This study contributes an original, empirically grounded conceptual model that explains mental risk‐taking within a local cultural context and highlights implications for instructional and assessment practices in mathematics education.