Introduction

Prior research indicates that female students express higher fear of failure than male students and that fear of failure is associated with lower social and emotional well-being and higher levels of stress, anxiety, burnout and depression. Fear of failure also leads individuals to limit their choices and take fewer risks than would be warranted given their ability and context to minimise the possibility of failing.

Methods

We examined cross-country differences in gender gaps in fear of failure as well as factors that explain gender gaps and variations of gender gaps across countries using multilevel modelling techniques. Participants were 517,047 15-year-old students from 59 countries who took part in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Results

Within countries, students with higher reading achievement and who lacked a growth mindset reported higher fear of failure. The gender gap in fear of failure was especially high among high-achieving students and students with high-achieving peers. The size of the gender gap in fear of failure differed across countries: it was higher in countries with higher levels of economic prosperity, with lower levels of societal-level gender inequality and countries with comprehensive education systems.

Conclusions

The greater prevalence of fear of failure among female students among high-achieving students attending high-achieving schools in prosperous and more gender equal societies could help to explain the paradox of the persistent underrepresentation of females in certain occupations in contexts that are most supportive of females.

中文翻译：

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15 岁学生害怕失败的性别差异：性别不平等的作用、学校组织和经济条件

介绍

先前的研究表明，女学生对失败的恐惧高于男学生，并且对失败的恐惧与较低的社交和情绪健康以及较高的压力、焦虑、倦怠和抑郁有关。对失败的恐惧还会导致个人限制他们的选择，并比考虑到他们将失败的可能性降至最低的能力和背景所承担的风险要少。

方法

我们使用多层次建模技术研究了因害怕失败而导致的性别差距的跨国差异，以及解释性别差距和各国性别差距变化的因素。参与者是来自 59 个国家的 517,047 名 15 岁学生，他们参加了 2018 年国际学生评估计划 (PISA)。

结果

在国家内部，阅读成绩较高且缺乏成长心态的学生报告称，他们更害怕失败。在成绩优异的学生和成绩优异的同学中，害怕失败的性别差距尤其大。害怕失败的性别差距大小因国家而异：经济繁荣程度较高的国家、社会层面的性别不平等程度较低的国家和教育系统全面的国家，这种差距更大。

结论

在繁荣和性别更加平等的社会中，在成绩优异的学校就读的成绩优异的学生中，女学生对失败的恐惧更为普遍，这有助于解释在最支持女性的环境中，女性在某些职业中持续代表性不足的悖论.