Gender norms and STEM: the importance of friends for stopping leakage from the STEM pipeline

More women are now entering male-dominated fields, yet, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remain dominated by men. We examined the association between boys’ and girls’ STEM choices after secondary education and friends’ gender norms, and whether pressure to conform to traditional gender norms differs depending on the gender composition of the friend group. Drawing on 3 waves of longitudinal data (N?=?744) from the Netherlands, our sample consists of adolescents in STEM trajectories in secondary education. Their retention in STEM after secondary education gives us a better understanding of gender-specific “leakage” from the STEM pipeline. We found that girls’ likelihood of choosing STEM decreased drastically when friends had more traditional gender norms. Friends with traditional gender norms had less effect on boys. Nonetheless, boys with only same-sex friends were more likely to enter STEM. Our findings indicate that an environment with gender-normative ideas pushes girls out of the STEM pipeline.     

How girls and boys expect disclosure about problems will make them feel: implications for friendships

Although girls disclose to friends about problems more than boys, little is known about processes underlying this sex difference. Four studies (Ns = 526, 567, 769, 154) tested whether middle childhood to mid-adolescent girls and boys (ranging from 8 to 17 years old) differ in how they expect that talking about problems would make them feel. Girls endorsed positive expectations (e.g., expecting to feel cared for, understood) more strongly than boys. Despite common perceptions, boys did not endorse negative expectations such as feeling embarrassed or worried about being made fun of more than girls. Instead, boys were more likely than girls to expect to feel "weird" and like they were wasting time. Sex differences in outcome expectations did help to account for girls' greater disclosure to friends.     

An exploration of gender participation patterns in science competitions

This study investigated participation in a state-level science competition over most of its 35-year history. Issues examined included whether different gender patterns occurred with respect to entry rate, project topic (life science, physical science, earth science, and math), and project type (research or display). The study also examined to what extent the identified patterns reflected or contradicted nationwide patterns of girls' academic performance in science over roughly the same time period. It was found that although girls initially participated in the fair less frequently than boys, for the past 20 years their participation rate has been greater than that of boys. Examination of topic preferences over the years indicates that both girls and boys have traditionally favored life science; however, boys have been and continue to be more likely to prepare physical, earth, and math/computer science projects than girls. Another gender difference is that girls are generally less likely than boys to prepare projects based on experimental research as opposed to library research. The study provides some suggestions for teachers and teacher educators for addressing these disparities.     

Gender differences in both tails of the distribution of numerical competencies in preschool children

Gender differences in mathematical achievement have been examined in a wide range of age groups but only a few studies addressed this issue in preschool children. We compared preschool girls (n?=?570) and boys (n?=?524) from Germany with regard to numerical competencies. Differences in overall group means and the frequency of representation at low, middle, or high levels of performance were explored for girls and boys. Analysis of overall group means revealed that boys showed a better performance than girls (d?=?.32). The analysis of frequencies showed differences in both tails but not in the middle of the distribution of numerical competencies. While boys were more often found at higher levels of performance, girls were found to be overrepresented in the low-ability end of the distribution. These findings demonstrate that gender differences in mathematical achievement can emerge before school entry and stress the importance of further research looking for gender divides in mathematical achievement in preschool children from different countries as well as possible underlying factors.     

Do actions speak louder than words? An effect of the functional use of language on dominant sex role behavior in boys and girls

Although a number of studies document the fact that adult males interrupt females more often than females interrupt males, less is known about whether this behavior is also true of younger boys and girls. This study examined some aspects of dominant-submissive sex role behavior in preschool children and their teachers during conversation at the snack table. It asked whether there was any difference in the number of times girls and boys interrupted their teacher, and whether there was any difference in the number of times the teacher interrupted boys or girls. In succeeding observations, researchers investigated whether girls or boys were assigned the privilege of passing snack more frequently.In Investigation 1 nine boys and nine girls, 4 years of age, were observed talking with a variety of student teachers in a naturalistic snack setting, and checklists were kept of the number of teacher-child, child-teacher interruptions during conversation. In Investigation 2, tallies were kept of the number of times boys and girls assumed the dominant roles of distributing snacks and snack materials.Results indicted that during conversation, boys interrupted their teachers more frequently than the girls did (p > .03). Teachers interrupted girls more frequently than they interrupted boys (p > .02). No significant differences were found in the frequency of participation by boys or girls in passing snack. Results are discussed in relation to the teacher's role in teaching dominant-submissive sex role behaviors to children.     

Gender differences in developmental links among antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection in childhood: results from two cultures

This study addressed gender differences in the developmental links among antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection. High and increasing, moderate, and low antisocial developmental trajectories were identified among 289 Dutch children, ages 7 to 10, and 445 French-Canadian children, ages 9 to 12. Only boys followed the high trajectory. These boys had more deviant friends and were more often rejected than other children. A minority of girls followed the moderate antisocial behavior trajectory. These girls had fewer deviant friends than moderate antisocial boys, but moderate antisocial boys and girls were equally likely to be rejected. The influence of friends and poor peer relations plays a crucial but different role in the development of antisocial behavior among boys and girls.     

Gender differences in the risk for delinquency among youth exposed to family violence

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to illuminate gender differences in adolescent delinquency against a backdrop of childhood exposure to both marital violence and physical child abuse. Specifically, analyses were performed to trace the unique effects of exposure to either form of family violence (marital or child) on the violent and nonviolent delinquency of boys and girls. METHOD: This is a prospective study of 299 children who were interviewed with their mothers in 1991 about forms of abuse in the family. Approximately 5 years later a search of juvenile court records was performed for these same children. Details on the nature of the crimes were collected. Outcome variables included: (1) whether there was ever an arrest; and (2) whether there was ever an arrest for a violent crime. RESULTS: Preliminary analyses indicated no gender differences in overall referral rates to juvenile court, although boys were more likely than girls to be referred for property, felony, and violent offenses. Exposure to marital violence in childhood predicted referral to juvenile court. Girls with a history of physical child abuse were arrested for violent offenses more than boys with similar histories, but the context of violent offenses differed dramatically by gender: Nearly all referrals for a violent offense for girls were for domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS: Although boys and girls share similar family risk factors for delinquency, girls are more likely than boys to be arrested for violent offenses in the aftermath of child physical abuse. These findings suggest that it takes more severe abuse to prompt violence in girls than is necessary to explain boys' violent offending.     

Motivation and Attribution at Secondary School: the role of gender

A total of 1068 secondary school pupils completed a questionnaire concerned with enjoyment of school, enjoyment of subjects and what they attributed academic success to. Gender differences were shown in the overall enjoyment of school (girls expressing greater enjoyment). Girls also reported liking friends, teachers, outings and lessons more than boys, while boys reported liking sports and school clubs more. Enjoyment of school subjects reflected traditional sex stereotyping: girls reported more liking than did boys for English, French, German, history, drama, music and home economics while boys reported more liking for science. craft and design technology, physical education and information technology. Some gender differences were shown in rating factors contributing to academic success (girls rating hard work and teachers’ liking for you as more important than boys, and boys rating cleverness, talent and luck as more important than girls) but attributions with respect to academic success varied more with age than with gender.     

Concurrent and longitudinal links between children's and their friends’ antisocial and prosocial behavior in preschool

Concurrent and longitudinal links between children's own and their nominated best friends’ antisocial and prosocial behavior were studied in a normative sample of 3-5-year-olds (N = 203). Moderating effects of age and gender were also explored. Subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were used to obtain teacher ratings of behavior for each target child and his/her nominated best friends. Nomination of best friends with higher levels of antisocial behavior and lower levels of prosocial behavior was concurrently linked to more antisocial behavior in boys. Nomination of highly prosocial best friends was concurrently linked to more prosocial behavior in both boys and girls. However, the study found no longitudinal effects of best friends’ behavior on target child's behavior over a one-year period. A group of children who nominated no best friends at T1 were generally perceived as less prosocial, but not more antisocial, than other children.     

What Sort of Girl Wants to Study Physics After the Age of 16? Findings from a Large-scale UK Survey

This paper investigates the characteristics of 15-year-old girls who express an intention to study physics post-16. This paper unpacks issues around within-girl group differences and similarities between boys and girls in survey responses about physics. The analysis is based on the year 10 (age 15 years) responses of 5,034 students from 137 UK schools as learners of physics during the academic year 2008–2009. A comparison between boys and girls indicates the pervasiveness of gender issues, with boys more likely to respond positively towards physics-specific constructs than girls. The analysis also indicates that girls and boys who expressed intentions to participate in physics post-16 gave similar responses towards their physics teachers and physics lessons and had comparable physics extrinsic motivation. Girls (regardless of their intention to participate in physics) were less likely than boys to be encouraged to study physics post-16 by teachers, family and friends. Despite this, there were a subset of girls still intending to study physics post-16. The crucial differences between the girls who intended to study physics post-16 and those who did not is that girls who intend to study physics post-16 had higher physics extrinsic motivation, more positive perceptions of physics teachers and lessons, greater competitiveness and a tendency to be less extrovert. This strongly suggests that higher extrinsic motivation in physics could be the crucial underlying key that encourages a subset of girls (as well as boys) in wanting to pursue physics post-16.     

Child Care Teachers' Response to Children's Emotional Expression

This observational study examined practices through which child care teachers socialize children's emotion. A specific aim was to describe strategies of teacher intervention in response to emotion displayed by children in child care centers, and to answer the question of differential interactions based on children's age and gender.

The results of this study were as follows: (a) toddler teachers matched and encouraged children's positive emotion expression more often than did preschool teachers; (b) in response to children's negative emotion, toddler teachers used physical comfort and distraction more often than did preschool teachers who relied more on verbal mediation; (c) in response to girls' negative emotional expressions, teachers provided more physical comfort and distraction whereas they were more likely to provide boys with constructive ways to express negative emotion.

The results of this study also revealed relatively infrequent teaching about constructive ways of expressing negative emotion and very few occurrences of teacher's empathy, two developmentally appropriate methods for socializing emotion. Teachers may benefit from a training program focusing on facilitating emotional competence.     

Blinded to science: gender differences in the effects of race,ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on academic and science attitudes among sixth graders

Little research has examined whether the effects of race or socioeconomic status (SES) on educational attitudes differ by gender, limiting knowledge of unique vulnerabilities occurring at the intersection of multiple social statuses. Using data from 182 sixth-graders, interactions between gender, race/ethnicity, and SES in predicting educational aspirations, persistence, views of science, and educational self-efficacy are examined. African American and Latino boys express more negative attitudes relative to (1) higher-SES boys, (2) White boys, and (3) girls of any race/ethnicity or level of SES. The intersection of multiple inequalities in education across the early life course is discussed.     

Students' Gender Stereotypes about Running in Schools

Two hundred forty-six students (132 boys, 114 girls) were tracked from fifth to eighth grades, and changes in gender stereotypes about running as a male sport, running performance, interest in running, and intention for future running participation were assessed. Results revealed that neither sex held gender stereotypes about running as a male sport and students were less likely to hold such stereotypes as they progressed through school. Compared to girls, boys were more likely to perceive running to be more appropriate for boys. Girls with higher gender stereotyping mean scores reported lower interest in running and intentions for future running participation, while boys recording increases in running stereotyping were more likely to retain interest in running and future running participation. This study provides empirical documentation of running as a gender-neutral activity over time in a physical education/athletic setting. From the expectancy-value lens, including gender-neutral activities such as running may encourage interest and participation levels among boys and girls alike.     

Gender Meanings in Grade Eight Students' Talk about Classroom Writing

This study examined the ways in which gender influences students' choices in their classroom writing. Data sources included the students' writing, small group conversations, classroom observations, and interviews with teachers. For the most part, students attempted to maintain a widely recognized gender order in their talk about girls' and boys' writing. The students' writing choices were constrained or extended by the range of discourses available to construct their gender and literate identities. The boys generally positioned themselves within powerful hegemonic masculine discourses. Some boys, however, wrote about relationships between male friends within competitive environments. Taking up the more powerful masculine discourses, some girls wrote about personal experiences playing team sports. Students made one boy aware that he had positioned himself as incompetent within the social order when he wrote about a gay character.     

Preschoolers' Relational Aggression with Siblings and with Friends

As part of a longitudinal study examining sibling and friend relationships in early and middle childhood, relational aggression by 4-year-olds and their interaction partners in semi-structured free play sessions with siblings and friends was examined during sibling sessions involving both same-gender and mixed-gender sibling pairs. Identifiable acts of relational aggression occurred during many of the interactions observed, but there was also a wide range in the amount of relational aggression produced. Both boys and girls used relational aggression with their siblings much more than they did with their friends. Although boys' and girls' relationally aggressive behaviors occurred at similar rates, the form and function of their relational aggression varied depending on the age and gender of their sibling.     

Academic self-concept and causal attributions for success and failure amongst elementary school children

A great deal of research shows that the way in which children attribute causes to their successes and failures in school has implications for the development of their academic self-concept (ASC). The most common attributions are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. The present study asked 68 elementary school children aged seven to eight years how they explained their successes and failures in school subjects. The aim of the study was to examine whether there were gender differences in the children’s responses which might indicate differences in ASCs or in their explanations for the causes of success or failure. Data were collected via quantitative questionnaires. Results showed no gender differences in ASC but, within the group, boys were more likely to attribute their success to high ability; on the other hand girls were more likely to attribute their failures to low ability or the difficulty level of task. This suggests that boys are more likely than girls to provide positive, self-enhancing reasons for their success while girls are more likely than boys to provide negative, self-deprecating reasons for their failures.     

The Participation of Boys and Girls in Home Economics

This study examined whether male students dominated classroom interactions in home economics lessons and whether other classroom processes sustained gender divisions in this subject in two Form I and two Form II classes in two schools. The sample included two female home economics teachers and all the students in the four classes (34 boys and 31 girls). Data were collected during five 60‐minute observation sessions in each class (inter‐observer reliability reached 94%) and structured interviews with both teachers and 24 students (three boys and three girls from each class). Statistically significant (p < 0.001) differences were found in the number of times students were helped by the teachers (boys received 76% of teachers’ help) and in the number of reprimands they received (boys received 87%). Boys and girls received a comparable amount of praise but boys received a greater amount of interaction in all other categories (direction of teacher questions, choice of students to answer questions, call‐outs and calling students by name) although these differences were not statistically significant. There were major individual differences between students of the same sex in all the categories. More boys (19) than girls (seven) were high participants in different classroom processes. Most of the students in mixed‐gender kitchenettes co‐operated in cleaning up. Teachers expected the same standard of work from all the students but they allotted more special jobs to girls.     

Preschool attendance and kindergarten readiness

Scores on the Georgia Kindergarten Assessment Program (GKAP) of 171 students (81 students who had attended preschool and 90 students who had not attended preschool) were analyzed to determine whether school readiness test performance was influenced by participation in preschool programs. Students who had attended preschool demonstrated statistically higher overall school readiness, higher Physical scores, and higher Personal scores than students who did not attend preschool. No difference, however, was found in GKAP scores as a function of type of preschool attended. Only one gender difference was revealed, that in the Social measure on the GKAP in which girls outperformed boys. Implications of our findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

EXAMINATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD PRACTITIONERS’ GENERAL PERCEPTION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN YOUNG CHILDREN

This study attempts to explore and discuss preschool teachers’ perception of gender differences in young children through their verbal expression. The teachers (Study I, n —121, Study II, n= 31) in this study perceive female preschoolers as positive and sensitive learners. While many learner qualities such as inventive, problem‐solver, builder, hands‐on, questioning, etc. are identified more often for boys than girls, overall the teachers’ perception of the boys’ group is less “teachable” and “easy to work with” than the girls group. In addition, one of the most intriguing and concerning observations is that girls are perceived as “passive learners” and therefore they are more “teachable” than boys. As implications of the study, the paper discusses an important understanding of gender‐fair and gender‐congruent pedagogical awareness for developmentally and culturally appropriate practice in early childhood education.

This study was originally presented at the 1999 AERA Annual Meeting, April 19‐23, Montreal, Canada, and was titled Examination of Preschool Teachers’ Biased Perception on Gender Difference.     

Young Girls' Social Understanding: Emergent interpersonal expertise

This study focused on gender differences in young children's interpersonal understanding. Of particular interest was the articulation of the structure and content of young girls' social cognition, since this is an area where girls are believed to excel. Children from preschool (11 girls and 10 boys) and kindergarten (12 girls and 9 boys) responded to eight picture stories depicting interpersonal situations in the school context. Four of the drawings accompanying the stories contained explicit emotional cues and four contained subtle cues. Using a semi-structured interview format, children were asked questions about the actions, thoughts, and feelings of the protagonist and another character in the story (either a teacher or another child). Stories were analyzed for level of ability to coordinate thoughts and/or feelings and actions in explaining others' intentions. Girls demonstrated more sophisticated and complex reasoning about interpersonal situations than boys, and were better at decoding subtle cues in the drawings accompanying the stories. Within-subject differences were apparent, however, suggesting a need for further research on the influence of context and language on interpersonal understanding and the degree of variability among both girls and boys.