Reliability Estimates and Age and Gender Comparisons of Expectations of Success in Sex-Typed Activities

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine the stability of estimations of success in masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral motor tasks with subjects of three age groups, and to compare expectancies for success of boys and girls at each of the ages. A total of 90 subjects took part in the study, including 15 males and 15 females randomly selected from the three age groups (grades 1 & 2; grades 6 & 7; and adults). Three activities (football, ballet, and swimming) had been sex-typed in a previous study as masculine, feminine, and neutral, respectively. Subjects were asked to indicate how they would expect to perform on three occasions in all three tasks. Results indicated that all age groups can provide reliable expectations for their success in motor skill acquisition, although the younger children's estimates are slightly less reliable, especially on the first trial. Sex-typing of activities was found to definitely affect the performance estimations in all three age groups. Males' expectancies were higher on the male task and females' expectancies were higher on the female task. The younger children's overall estimates of success were higher than those of the older groups.