What predicts girls' and boys' political ambition? Evidence from the United States and China.

Abstract

Women are underrepresented in positions of political leadership across the world. One reason for this disparity is a gender gap in political ambition, which seems to emerge reliably as children transition from childhood to adolescence. Why does this gap in political ambition arise? The present study (N = 367 children ages 5-11 from the United States and China; 180 girls, 187 boys) provided a cross-cultural investigation of two potential antecedents of this ambition gap: (a) children's concepts of political leaders, which might discourage girls' ambitions if they emphasize traditionally masculine traits, and (b) the social support children anticipate receiving for their political ambitions, which might be lower for girls due to gender role expectations. In both the United States and China, children's concepts of political leaders-which were characterized by the same three underlying dimensions (prestige/charisma, dominance/assertiveness, vulnerability/fallibility)-did not consistently predict children's political ambition. However, the level of social support for their political leadership pursuits, which was higher for girls than boys in the United States and vice versa in China, did predict levels of political ambition in both countries, particularly for girls. That is, anticipated social support robustly predicted girls' motivation to pursue political leadership in both the United States and China, whereas this link was weaker and less consistent for boys. Together, these findings provide new insight into the sources of gender gaps in political ambition and, in doing so, bring us a step closer to understanding how to remedy the persistent gender imbalances in political leadership. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).