Gender in Relation to Academic Self-concept among Government Secondary School Students of Mbeya City Council, Tanzania

Abstract

The study focused on the association between gender and academic self-concept (ASC) among secondary school students in Mbeya City Council, Tanzania. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design in which 218 Form Three students were randomly selected to participate in the study. The study used the ASC scale developed by William M. Reynolds (1988), consisting of 40 items. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26.0 was used for data analysis. The Mann-Whitney test showed that students differed significantly by gender in ASC; (N=218, U=4682.00, Z= -2.230, p=.026). Male students ranked higher than females (Mean Rank=121.18 and 101.74, respectively). The Spearman’s rho correlation test indicated a weak negative association between gender and ASC (r=-.151, p=.03). Ordinal Logistic Regression showed a significant association between gender and ASC (B=.53, S.E=.24, Wald X2 (1) =4.88, p=.03; EXP(B)=1.70). The gender difference in ASC among students was evident. The areas for policy attention have been suggested.