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Making the grade but feeling distressed: gender differences in academic performance and internal distress

Introduction

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Introduction: Are girls higher achievers but suffering more stress at school?

Educational researchers and practitioners from the UK and the US are well aware that girls' achievement has increased relative to boys in recent years. But is this the whole picture? The authors of this US study set out to discover what motivates girls and boys to achieve in school and whether success came at the price of higher mental stress. The study looked at the test grades of 932 Elementary School children, aged nine to thirteen, in four subject areas, maths, science, English and humanities, three times in one year. The children's mental stress levels were also measured during the same period. The researchers found that girls were generally more vulnerable to mental distress than boys yet performed better at school.

Keywords
USA; Motivation; Girls; Boys; Achievement; Gender; Self-esteem; Self-concepts; Stereotypes; Pupils; Stress; Key Stage 2; Key Stage 3; Primary schools; Secondary schools

What did the researchers aim to do?

Research has shown that girls typically perform better than boys in school during primary school years and into adolescence. Studies have also shown that girls are more prone to stress than boys.

The authors aimed to build on previous studies of gender differences in academic achievement to see if there were connections between school children's academic performance and their stress levels.

In this study, mental distress refers to the stress that school children perceive themselves to be suffering from, measured in terms of worrying, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.

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What did the research find?

The study found that:

• girls did better in school subjects such as English, maths and humanities. On the other hand, boys achieved more highly in science;
• girls suffered more from mental distress than boys regardless of their performance in school. Girls also suffered more from anxiety, worrying and depression and they had a lower self-esteem;
• girls who were lower achievers seemed to be more prone to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem (self-worth);
• girls worried more than boys about how well they did in school;
• adolescent schoolchildren were particularly vulnerable to stress. This was especially the case for girls; and
• boys suffered less from mental distress. They were less concerned when they failed and, therefore, did not feel disappointed. However, previous studies have suggested that boys tend to express their mental anguish through verbal and physical aggression.

To find out more about the findings see the next page

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Why do girls suffer more stress than boys but perform better at school?

The researchers' findings were consistent with other theoretical perspectives and research which identified factors that may cause girls to outperform boys, whilst still experiencing more stress.

In this study girls appeared to approach exams as a way of emphasising their capabilities. Consequently, they viewed their exam results and the related feedback as an opportunity to reflect on their performance, which helped them to perform better. The authors suggested that this attitude might have led them to suffer more from mental distress. In contrast, boy's competitive and self-confident manner suggested that they were less concerned about feedback.

Girls were also concerned about pleasing adults (teachers and parents), which might make them want to achieve higher grades. The authors found that girls' need to please left them more vulnerable to mental distress as they saw their failure as a disappointment to authority figures (teachers and adults). By contrast, boys were less concerned about pleasing adults, but were motivated by competition. Their failure in one subject was seen by them to be relevant only to that subject and thus unrelated to other subjects or matters. Boys' indifference to pleasing adults made them less vulnerable to mental distress.

The researchers also looked at the gender research literature and suggested a number of other factors which might have contributed to the difference in stress levels amongst the pupils in their study. These included traditional gender stereotyping, hormonal development and the tendency for boys to dominate the classroom environment in maths and science.

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How was the research designed?

The data for this study were collected as part of the University of Illinois Self-Evaluation Project. It focused on an American mid-west state elementary school in a lower to middle-class school district and a single sample group of 932 school children (466 girls, 466 boys) moving into adolescence between fourth, fifth and sixth grades, aged nine to thirteen. Data were collected at the beginning, middle and end of the academic year.

The researchers used school test results to provide information about the pupils' academic performance in the four central school topics - science, English, maths and humanities. The children's mental distress was analysed using measures of children's perceptions of how good they were, their self-esteem, worry about academic performance, anxiety and depression.

The data were statistically analysed using a mixed-model multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) method and the findings used to measure differences between boys and girls.

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What do the researcher's conclude about how we should respond to children's stress?

The researchers concluded that there are four ways in which researchers and policy makers in and beyond schools could help pupils cope with stress, improve motivation and raise achievement. These included:

• exploring how gender is affecting attainment means looking at out of school factors, such as, the influences of media, hormones and parents, as well as in school and teaching factors;
• it is important to explore whether the vulnerability and distress felt by girls is leading them away from important strategic life choices;
• informing both girls and boys about potential careers and supporting them in the choices they need to make in school to achieve them; and
• in school-measures to help girls and boys cope better with stress.

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Implications

In completing this digest the author began to ask the following questions about implications for schools:

• does the school marking policy take account of girls' sensitivity to criticism. For example, do girls receive specific information to help them improve their work? Can teachers, therefore, encourage girls to assess their own and others' work, as recommended in current research in Assessment for Learning. Can boys, also, be helped to respond to constructive feedback?
• what steps do we need to take when focusing on the learning and emotional needs of boys or girls to ensure that we address the consequences of such a focus on the other gender?
• does the school system of rewards and sanctions meet the needs of both boys and girls? Children's self-esteem and belief in their abilities in those subjects where they perform badly needs to be built up;
• does the school's personal and social educational programme adequately focus on girls' and boys' mental distress, for example by tackling motivation, attitudes to work and independent learning?
• does the school pastoral system provide support for students who have difficulty coping with stress? Is there accessible and expert support for behaviour and anger management, particularly for boys? And for anxiety and depression, particularly for girls? and
• do teachers in your school or department encourage girls and boys to talk about their feelings so that they do not internalise emotions. Regular single-sex group counselling could be introduced into schools. Are there professional development implications for teachers arising from this research?

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Where can I find out more?

Boaler, J. (1997) Experiencing School Mathematics: Teaching Styles, Sex and Setting. Buckingham: OU Press.
This research provides information about girls in top sets. Further reference to the experience of girls in setted classes is also presented in Boaler, J., Wiliam, D. and Brown, M. (2000) Experiences of ability groupings � disaffection, polarisation and the construction of failure. British Educational Research Journal, vol. 28, no. 5, pp.631-648. An online digest of this research is available.

Harlen, W. and Deakin Crick, R. (2002) A systematic review of the impact of summative assessment and tests on students' motivation for learning
This systematic review contains some information about girls and stress.

James, O. (2003) The Observer - Review: The trouble with girls, 1 June.

Macdonald, A. (1999) Institute of Physics Annual Congress - Press release, Is science for girls being sacrificed to political correctness? 13 April.

Mental Health Organisation, has an online publication listing many useful resources for teachers and schools.

Obeidallah, D. A. and Earls, F. J. (1999) National Institute of Justice, July.

Plourde, C. (2000) Mainely Girls' Special Report, Maine Girls: who are we and who we’re becoming. http://www.mainelygirls.org/reports/whoweare.html

Sukhnandan, L., Lee, B. and Kelleher, S. (2000) An investigation into gender differences in achievement, Phase 2: School and classroom strategies National Foundation for Educational Research.
For a summary of this work, see the GTC Research of the Month website

The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mental Health and Growing Up, Factsheet 25, Depression in Children and Young People.

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