Self-discipline gives girls the edge: Gender in self-discipline, grades, and achievement test scores.

Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, girls earn higher grades than boys in all major subjects. Girls, however, do not outperform boys on achievement or IQ tests. To date, explanations for the underprediction of girls' GPAs by standardized tests have focused on gender differences favoring boys on such tests. The authors' investigation suggests an additional explanation: Girls are more self-disciplined, and this advantage is more relevant to report card grades than to achievement or aptitude tests. Eighth-grade girls at an urban magnet school were more self-disciplined than their male counterparts according to delay of gratification measures and self-report, teacher, and parent ratings. Whereas girls earned higher grades in all courses, they did only marginally better on an achievement test and worse on an IQ test. Mediation analyses suggested girls earned higher GPAs at least in part because they were more self-disciplined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new perspective on women's math achievement.

This article presents an examination of the little noted sex-related difference in classroom grades. In contrast to standardized measures of mathematics achievement, girls receive better math grades than do boys. Three hypotheses are proposed to account for this difference. The first hypothesis proposes that boys' greater math experience facilitates their performance on standardized tests. The second hypothesis proposes that math learning styles account for the observed differences. Autonomous learning behavior is presumed to facilitate performance on standardized tests, whereas rote learning is presumed to facilitate performance on classroom exams. The third hypothesis proposes that boys and girls respond differently to novel and familiar achievement situations. It is hypothesized that girls do better when dealing with familiar situations such as classroom exams, whereas boys do better when dealing with novel situations such as standardized tests. Theoretical and empirical evidence consistent with each hypothesis is reviewed, and directions for further research are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning what's taught: Sex differences in instruction.

Research indicates that boys perform better on mathematics tests and girls perform better on reading tests. An investigation of why boys' and girls' performance differs was made by coding 33 teacher interactions with 2nd grade students during reading and mathematics instruction. Teachers made more academic contacts with girls in reading and with boys in math; teachers spent relatively more cognitive time with girls in reading and boys in math; teachers made consistently more managerial contacts with boys than girls; and, although there were no differences in initial abilities, sex differences were found in end-of-year achievement in reading. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-grade changes in Korean girls' motivation and perceptions of the learning environment across domains and achievement levels.

This study tested whether students' motivation and perceptions of the learning environment changed significantly within the school year. Korean high school girls' (N = 375) perceptions of the performance goal structures in the environment increased significantly throughout the school year. The girls' personal achievement goals and task value demonstrated few significant within-grade changes, but their self-efficacy fluctuated significantly around examinations. Motivational beliefs were more stable than were perceptions of the environment. Nevertheless, the modified perceptions of the learning environment explained changes in motivation, justifying continued efforts to create a motivationally adaptive environment. Construct relations were consistent across different academic contexts. There was no evidence that low-achieving girls responded more negatively to the classroom performance goals than did their better-achieving peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'évaluation de soi, les buts d'apprentissage et leur impact sur le rendement scolaire d'èléves en sixièxe anneé du primaire.

The relations between perceptions of competence, self-efficacy and types of goals, and their influence on school achievement have been examined among a sample of 224 girls and 193 boys of grade six. Results showed that as was expected even though perceptions of competence and self-efficacy were related, the latter better predicts school achievement. Contrary to what was expected, no negative influence was observed for the combination of low self-efficacy and performance goals on school achievement. Finally, according to a last hypothesis, the pattern of relations between motivational variables and school achievement differs for girls and boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Girls' math performance under stereotype threat: The moderating role of mothers' gender stereotypes.

Previous research on stereotype threat in children suggests that making gender identity salient disrupts girls' math performance at as early as 5 to 7 years of age. The present study (n = 124) tested the hypothesis that parents' endorsement of gender stereotypes about math moderates girls' susceptibility to stereotype threat. Results confirmed that stereotype threat impaired girls' performance on math tasks among students from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Moreover, mothers' but not fathers' endorsement of gender stereotypes about math moderated girls' vulnerability to stereotype threat: Performance of girls whose mothers strongly rejected the gender stereotype about math did not decrease under stereotype threat. These findings are important because they point to the role of mothers' beliefs in the development of girls' vulnerability to the negative effects of gender stereotypes about math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in children's altruistic behavior and reputations for helpfulness.

Examined sex differences in altruism by administering reputation and behavioral measures to 279 5th and 6th graders. Ss' reputations for altruism were assessed with teacher ratings and a classroom sociometric task. Altruistic behavior was measured with 6 classroom tasks that provided Ss with opportunities to help other Ss. Girls scored significantly higher than did boys on both reputation tasks and on a composite reputation score. Girls also scored significantly higher than did boys on 2 of the behavioral tasks and on the composite behavioral measure. Thus, although girls were perceived as much more helpful than boys, the behavioral differences were of a lesser magnitude. Results replicate closely those reported by H. Hartshorne et al (1929). (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School readiness and later achievement: A French Canadian replication and extension.

We first replicated the data analytic strategy used in Duncan et al. (2007) with a population-based data set of French-speaking children from Quebec (Canada). Prospective associations were examined between cognitive, attention, and socioemotional characteristics underlying kindergarten school readiness and second grade math, reading, and general achievement. We then extended this school readiness model by including motor skills as an additional element in the prediction equation and expanded the original strategy by including classroom engagement. The Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Preschool Study, featured in Duncan et al., served as the Canadian reference group. In the replication model, kindergarten cognitive and attention characteristics predicted achievement by the end of 2nd grade. Although inconsistent across outcomes, behavioral problems and skills also emerged as predictors of some aspects of later achievement. Coefficients for kindergarten math skills were largest, followed by attention skills, receptive language skills, attention problems, and behavior. Most coefficients resembled those generated in the initial study. In our extension model, fine motor skills added their significant contribution to the prediction of later achievement above and beyond the original key elements of school readiness. Our extension model confirmed prospectively associations between kindergarten cognitive, attention, fine motor, and physical aggression characteristics and later achievement and classroom engagement by the end of 2nd grade. Although they comparatively showed better long-term benefits from stronger early attention skills, girls with less kindergarten cognitive skills were more vulnerable than boys with similar deficits when predicting 2nd grade math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting mathematics performance in high school girls and boys.

Ninth-grade scores for 157 females and 148 males for 3 cognitive tests (Test of Academic Progress, Quick Word Test, and Space Relations Test of the Differential Aptitude Tests) and the 8 Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales were used to predict mathematics performance: grades in a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th yr of theoretical math (latter, females only, 30 Ss) and scores of senior girls on the Mental Arithmetic Problems test (85 Ss). Using multiple regression, 9th-grade scores significantly predicted mathematics performance 1–3 yrs later. Spatial visualization was an important variable, significantly predicting geometry grade for girls, but not for boys. Aside from math achievement, spatial visualization was the only other variable with a significant weight in predicting mathematical problem-solving scores for girls over a 3-yr period. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in learned helplessness: II. The contingencies of evaluative feedback in the classroom and III. An experimental analysis.

Girls show greater evidence than boys of learned helplessness in achievement situations with adult (but not peer) evaluators: They attribute their failures to lack of ability rather than motivation and thus show impaired performance under failure. Two studies are reported linking sex differences in attributions to adults' use of evaluative feedback. Study 1, with 52 4th graders and 27 5th graders, revealed that both the contingencies of feedback in classrooms and the attributions made by teachers were ones that would render negative evaluation more indicative of ability for girls than boys. For example, negative evaluation of girls' performance referred almost exclusively to intellectual inadequacies, whereas 45% of boys' work-related criticism referred to nonintellectual aspects. Moreover, teachers attributed the boys' failures to lack of motivation significantly more than they did the girls' failures. In Study 2, with 60 5th graders, teacher–boy and teacher–girl contingencies of work-related criticism observed in classrooms were programmed in an experimental situation. Both boys and girls receiving the teacher–girl contingency were more likely to view subsequent failure feedback from that evaluator as indicative of their ability. Implications for developmental theories and for development are addressed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures on computer-assisted instruction.

Investigated the impacts of computer-assisted cooperative, competitive, and individualistic instruction on student achievement and attitudes. 71 8th graders were randomly assigned to conditions stratified for sex and ability. 24 Ss (13 boys and 11 girls) were assigned to the cooperative condition, 22 Ss (11 boys and 11 girls) to the competitive condition, and 25 Ss (14 boys and 11 girls) to the individualistic condition. In all conditions Ss completed the same computer-assisted instructional unit. Results indicate that computer-assisted cooperative instruction promotes greater quantity and quality of daily achievement; more successful problem solving; and higher performance on factual recognition, application, and problem-solving test items than does computer-assisted competitive or individualistic learning. The girls' attitudes, compared with the boys', were adversely affected within the competitive condition. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Math and science motivation: A longitudinal examination of the links between choices and beliefs.

This study addresses the longitudinal associations between youths' out-of-school activities, expectancies-values, and high school course enrollment in the domains of math and science. Data were collected on 227 youth who reported on their activity participation in 5th grade, expectancies-values in 6th and 10th grade, and courses taken throughout high school. Math and science course grades at 5th and 10th grade were gathered through school record data. Results indicated youths' math and science activity participation predicted their expectancies and values, which, in turn, predicted the number of high school courses above the predictive power of grades. Although there were mean-level differences between boys and girls on some of these indicators, relations among indicators did not significantly differ by gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Striving for social dominance over peers: The implications for academic adjustment during early adolescence.

This study investigated the proposal that social dominance goals are an important, but overlooked, aspect of social goals for young adolescents' academic adjustment. Self-reports of social goals (dominance, intimacy, and popularity goals) early in the school year were used to predict subsequent engagement (self-reports and peer nominations of effort toward school work and disruptive behavior) and achievement (i.e., grades) when students were in 6th grade (N = 718) and again after the transition to middle school when students were in 7th grade (N = 656; 52% African American and 48% White; 52% female and 48% male). In line with hypotheses, social dominance goals were associated with maladaptive forms of engagement and low achievement in 6th and 7th grades. For intimacy goals, relations were more limited, but when found, these goals were associated with adaptive forms of engagement in 6th and 7th grades. Popularity goals were not generally associated with engagement or achievement. The exception was 6th-grade African American girls, for whom popularity goals were associated with maladaptive engagement, (i.e., low effort, high disruptive behavior, and low peer nominations for trying hard and getting good grades). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sense of relatedness as a factor in children's academic engagement and performance.

Children's sense of relatedness is vital to their academic motivation from 3rd to 6th grade. Children's (n = 641) reports of relatedness predicted changes in classroom engagement over the school year and contributed over and above the effects of perceived control. Regression and cumulative risk analyses revealed that relatedness to parents, teachers, and peers each uniquely contributed to students' engagement, especially emotional engagement. Girls reported higher relatedness than boys, but relatedness to teachers was a more salient predictor of engagement for boys. Feelings of relatedness to teachers dropped from 5th to 6th grade, but the effects of relatedness on engagement were stronger for 6th graders. Discussion examines theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of relatedness as a key predictor of children's academic motivation and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does math self-efficacy mediate the effect of the perceived classroom environment on standardized math test performance?

We examined the effect of the perceived classroom environment on math self-efficacy and the effect of math self-efficacy on standardized math test performance. Upper elementary school students (N = 1,163) provided self-reports of their perceived math self-efficacy and the degree to which their math classroom environment was mastery oriented, challenging, and caring. Individual student scores on the California Standards Test for Mathematics were also collected. A series of 2-level models revealed that students who perceived their classroom environments as more caring, challenging, and mastery oriented had significantly higher levels of math self-efficacy, and higher levels of math self-efficacy positively predicted math performance. Analysis of the indirect effects of classroom variables on math performance indicated a small significant mediating effect of self-efficacy. Implications for research on self-efficacy and the perceived classroom environment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations and achievement among third-, sixth-, and ninth-grade Black and White males and females.

Hypothesized that (a) boys in 3rd, 6th, and 9th grade would have higher expectations than girls, but only 9th-grade boys would have higher achievement; (b) achievement would increase with grade; (c) Whites would have higher expectations and achievement than Blacks; and (d) realism would increase with grade level. 112 Black and White 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders recorded their expectations and then attempted to perform tasks of math, mazes, or geometric drawings. Contrary to predictions and most previous studies, no significant sex differences were found. Whites achieved higher scores on mazes and drawings than did Blacks. The expectations of Blacks rose with grade level, regardless of concomitant achievements; but expectations of Whites did not. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy pathways to childhood depression.

This prospective research analyzed how different facets of perceived self-efficacy operate in concert within a network of sociocognitive influences in childhood depression. Perceived social and academic inefficacy contributed to concurrent and subsequent depression both directly and through their impact on academic achievement, prosocialness, and problem behaviors. In the shorter run, children were depressed over beliefs in their academic inefficacy rather than over their actual academic performances. In the longer run, the impact of a low sense of academic efficacy on depression was mediated through academic achievement, problem behavior, and prior depression. Perceived social inefficacy had a heavier impact on depression in girls than in boys in the longer term. Depression was also more strongly linked over time for girls than for boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype threat among schoolgirls in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances.

There is ample evidence today in the stereotype threat literature that women and girls are influenced by gender-stereotyped expectations on standardized math tests. Despite its high relevance to education, this phenomenon has not received much attention in school settings. The present studies offer the 1st evidence to date indicating that middle school girls exhibit a performance deficit in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances when they are simply led to believe that the task at hand measures mathematical skills. This deficit occurred in girls working alone or in mixed-gender groups (i.e., presence of regular classmates) but not in same-gender groups (i.e., presence of only same-gender classmates). Compared with the mixed-gender groups, the same-gender groups were also associated for girls in the stereotype threat condition with greater accessibility of positive role models (i.e., female classmates who excel in math), at the expense of both stereotypic in-group and out-group members (i.e., low-math-achievement girls and high-math-achievement boys). Finally, the greater accessibility of positive role models mediated the impact of the activated stereotype on girls' performance, exactly as one would expect from C. M. Steele's (1997) stereotype threat theory. Taken together, these findings clearly show that reducing stereotype threat in the classroom is a crucial challenge for both scientists and teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does being good make the grade? Social behavior and academic competence in middle school.

Examined relations of prosocial and antisocial classroom behavior to academic achievement, taking into account the possible mediating effects of academically oriented classroom behavior and teachers' preferences for students. Correlational findings based on 423 students in 6th and 7th grade indicated that prosocial and antisocial behavior are related significantly to GPA and standardized test scores and to teachers' preferences for students and academic behavior. Results from multiple-regression analyses suggested that both types of social behavior are significant, independent predictors of classroom grades, even when academically oriented behavior and teachers' preference for students, IQ, family structure, sex, ethnicity, and days absent from school are taken into account. Results of regressions suggested that significant correlations between social behavior and academic outcomes can be explained in part by significant relations between social and academic behavior. The role of social behavior in promoting classroom learning is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's competence and value beliefs from childhood through adolescence: Growth trajectories in two male-sex-typed domains.

The purpose of this study was to document gender differences in children's competence and value beliefs (N =514) from the 1st through 12th grades and to investigate the relation of these trends to initial differences in parents' perceptions of children's ability. Six separate growth models were tested: math competence, math interest, math importance, sports competence, sports interest, and sports importance. Across all 6 models, children's self-perceptions declined from 1st grade to 12th grade. Gender differences in competence and value beliefs were found. The gap between boys' and girls' competence beliefs decreased over time. In addition, parents' initial ratings of children's ability helped to explain mean level differences and variations in the rate of change in children's beliefs over time, with the effect being strongest in the sports models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)