Gender Differences in Growth in Mathematics Achievement: Three-Level Longitudinal and Multilevel Analyses of Individual, Home, and School Influences

Abstract

This study focused on gender differences in growth in mathematics achievement in relation to various social-psychological factors such as attitude toward mathematics, self-esteem, parents' academic encouragement, mathematics teachers' expectations, peer influence, and so on. The study was based primarily on the data collected by the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (Miller, Hoffer, Suchner, Brown, & Nelson, 1992) and focused on students from Grade 7 to Grade 10. The key methodology used in the study was 3-level longitudinal and multilevel modeling. Results indicated that gender differences in growth in mathematics varied by one's initial status in mathematics. For those who started low, girls started higher than boys, but their average growth rate was slightly lower than boys. Although the average gender gap in growth rate was not statistically significant, the gap varied across schools. In some schools girls' average growth rate was higher, whereas in other schools boys' average growth rate was higher. For those who started high, there were no gender differences in initial status and growth rate. However, the effect of math attitude and math teacher encouragement on mathematics differed for boys and girls who started high. The effect of math attitude on mathematics was stronger for boys than for girls. The effect of math teacher encouragement on mathematics varied across schools for boys, but no math teacher encouragement effect was found for girls. Results also show that home resources, individual behavior problems, and attitude toward mathematics were related to growth in mathematics. In addition, aggregated school resources had a significant effect on growth in mathematics. The effect of math teacher encouragement on mathematics varied across schools for boys and girls who started low as for boys who started high. Implications of these results are discussed.