Gender Differences in School Achievement: The Role of Self-Regulation PSYC FPX 4600 Assessment 4 Research Report

Gender Differences in School Achievement: The Role of Self-Regulation

Weis et al. (2019) explored whether self-regulation could explain higher exam performance among female students in German mathematics schools. They defined self-regulation as the motivation and ability to sustain goal-directed behaviors throughout time and across settings in order to attain desired results. While prior studies could not provide a definitive explanation for gender differences in arithmetic performance, the researchers focused on the relationship between math scores and self-regulation, which is important for academic progress. After controlling for a variety of factors, they concluded that disparities in arithmetic performance might be attributable to pupils’ differing degrees of behavioral regulation.

Gender Achievement Gaps: The Role of Social Costs 

Workman and Heyder (2020) investigated the impact of social pressure on academic success and discovered that males were substantially more likely to identify social repercussions for putting out effort in their academics. Males were 1.75 times more likely to believe they would become disliked, and 1.50 times more likely to be mocked for working hard in school. Male students’ performance suffered as a result of their reluctance to work hard for fear of social criticism. Their findings highlight how non-intellectual variables, such as social pressure, contribute to the gender gap in academic achievement.

Methods

Participants 

The participants in my study consisted of a sample of 105 high school students from a school in Northern California.

Measures

I utilized a chi-squared test to measure the link and dependency between students’ gender and academic achievement, as measured by their final grades in class.

Procedure

I utilized a correlational study strategy to investigate the link between the two previously mentioned variables. This technique allowed me to investigate whether gender affects students’ academic achievement. All participants were volunteers who filled out a demographic questionnaire that included information about parental educational achievement, socioeconomic status (SES), race, ethnicity, and the language spoken at home. Participants were paired together and asked to indicate their gender as well as the final grade they obtained in a particular class.

Socioeconomic status (SES), the language spoken at home, and race are all potential influences on the study’s results. These criteria were considered and included in the study analysis. We used a multivariate correlational analysis to account for these factors and their potential effects on the results.

PSYC FPX 4600 Assessment 4 Results

After collecting the data, I used a chi-squared test to see if there was a statistically significant difference between the predicted and actual results. I used this strategy to investigate the correlation between gender and final grades. The data was examined via SPSS, which allowed me to determine whether my two variables were related. A substantial connection would show a link between gender and final grade, implying that gender affects academic achievement rather than vice versa.

After analyzing SPSS, I achieved a p-value of 0.145, which is more than the intended alpha level of 0.05. This suggests that my findings are not statistically significant, thus I cannot safely reject the null hypothesis. Gender has no significant impact on academic achievement, as shown by