Interesting Gender Differences Research Articles

Is Asking What Women Want the Right Question? Underrepresentation in Philosophy and Gender Differences in Interests

In discussions of the underrepresentation of women in professional philosophy, those sceptical of discrimination as an explanation often suggest that gender differences in interests are a plausible alternative hypothesis. Some suspect that if women’s differing interests explains underrepresentation, then interventions suggested by the discrimination hypothesis might be unnecessary—or even risky. I argue that one needs to consider how stereotypes might influence interests, and that doing so can provide a more even-handed assessment of the risks involved in proposed interventions.

Effects of Innate Innovativeness and Product Interest on Product-Specific Consumer Innovativeness

This study investigated consumer innovativeness by examining a relationship model of innate innovativeness, product interest, product-specific innovativenss, and actualized innovativeness for eight product items as well as observed gender differences in the variables. The eight product items for the survey were smartphones, movies, clothing, cars, skin care products/cosmetics, traveling, AI products, and books. An online survey was conducted in January 2018, and 400 responses from male and female consumers in their twenties and thirties, were analyzed using reliability test, descriptive statistics, regression, and ANCOVA. The positive effect of innate innovativeness and product interest on product-specific innovativeness, and positive effect of innate innovativeness and product-specific innovativeness on actualized innovativeness were confirmed. Product interest was found to have a stronger power on product-specific innovativeness than innate innovativeness. Gender differences in product interest, product-specific innovativeness, and actualized innovativeness were identified as hypothesized. Female consumer’s clothing interest, clothing innovativenss, and actualized clothing innovativeness were higher than male consumers; in addition, male consumer’s cars and AI interest, cars and AI innovativenss, and actualized cars and AI innovativeness were higher than female’s. The controversial results that indicated the higher innate innovativeness of male consumers useful to further in-depth discussion and research. This study contributed to the theory construction of consumer innovativeness research areas and offered practical implications for new product launching and customer relationship management. Keywords: consumer innovativeness, innate innovativeness, product interest, product-specific innovativeness

Cultural significance of the flora of a tropical dry forest in the Doche vereda (Villavieja, Huila, Colombia)

BackgroundIn Colombia, ethnobotanical studies regarding plant cultural significance (CS) in tropical dry forests are scarce and mainly focused on the Caribbean region. Different authors have indicated that the plants with the most uses are those of greater cultural importance. Additionally, gender differences in knowledge and interest in natural resources has been widely recorded. This study evaluated the cultural significance of plants in the Doche community, in the Department of Huila. Furthermore, it evaluates the richness of plant knowledge among local inhabitants, looking for testing the hypothesis that the CS of plants positively correlates to the number of uses people inform about, and that there are significant differences on the richness of ethnobotanical knowledge between men and women in this community.MethodsThe ethnobotanical categories: “food,” “condiment,” “economy,” “fodder,” “firewood,” “timber”, “medicine,” and “others” were established to carry out semi-structured interviews, social cartography, and ethnobotanical walks. The frequency of mention was calculated as a measure of CS. The richness of knowledge of each collaborator was obtained. Non-parametric tests were performed to determine whether differences between the numbers of mentioned species existed between genders and ethnobotanical categories. Finally, Pearson correlation tests determined the relationship between CS and the number of ethnobotanical categories.ResultsA hundred useful species were registered in crops and forests. The most abundant categories were medicinal (45 species), firewood (30), and fodder (28). The most culturally significant species according to frequency of mention were Pseudosamanea guachapele, Guazuma ulmifolia, Manihot esculenta, and Musa balbisiana. The species with the most registered uses (five) were Guazuma ulmifolia and Gliricidia sepium. We found a correlation between CS and the number of uses per ethnobotanical category, but no significant difference between genders regarding ethnobotanical knowledge.ConclusionFrequency of mention provides relevant information about the CS of species. Furthermore, it aids to establish sustainable use of tropical dry forests without loss of resources parting from strategies designed from within the Doche community and based on their ethnobotanical knowledge. We found that the number of uses of a plant is correlated with its degree of cultural importance. On the other hand, no significant differences were found between genders regarding ethnobotanical knowledge; that is, both men and women have similar roles in the community, which allows them to recognize the same uses per species.

Parental Attachment Dimensions and Parenting Stress: The Mediating Role of Parental Reflective Functioning

Research suggests that parental reflective functioning—the parent’s capacity to envision the mind of his/her child—may play an important role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment and reflective functioning. Studies also suggest the importance of this capacity for the transition to parenthood, and particularly parents’ capacity to deal with parenting stress. This study focused on the potential mediating role of PRF dimensions in the relationship between parental attachment dimensions (attachment anxiety and avoidance) and parenting stress, using data from a 1-year longitudinal study in biological first-time parents (N = 106). Structural equation modeling showed that parents’ use of prementalizing modes of reflecting upon their child (PM) fully mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and three parenting stress dimensions (marital relationship, role restriction, and social isolation) across a 1-year interval, while attachment avoidance was indirectly related to these parenting stress dimensions through PM. Further, PM partially mediated the relationship between parental attachment anxiety and avoidance and a fourth dimension of parenting stress, lack of trust in parental competence. In addition, multi-group analyses revealed some interesting gender differences. Implications of these findings for the conceptualization of the relationship between parental attachment, PRF, and parenting stress are discussed.

An examination of gender and situational interest in multimedia learning environments

AbstractExisting research highlights conflicting results attempting to capture gender preferences with respect to unimodal versus multimodal designs in online learning. As online learning continues to expand, more research examining the role of gender in multimedia design holds considerable potential. However, the presence of multimedia in online learning contexts presents a more complex problem when taking into consideration the concept of learner interest. The current study sought to investigate gender differences in situational interest (SI) with respect to three different but related designs of an online, multimedia learning environment for continuing, professional education in emergency medical services. The content in these designs was identical, but applied different combinations of the redundancy and modality multimedia principles. A two‐way analysis of variance was used to examine the types of SI by gender and type of multimedia design. While no significant difference or interaction effect was identified between gender and triggered SI, an interaction effect was observed for females and the different multimedia designs. Specifically, females reported a higher maintained SI when animation, narration and text were effectively combined. The findings of this study provide insight into best practices for instructional and media designers developing multimedia learning environments as well as future research implications.

Gender differences in two motivational pathways to political conservatism

Gender differences in strategic interests provide a theoretical framework to account for the heterogeneous landscape of gender differences in political preferences. Men's greater scores on social dominance orientation are consistent with a preference for social hierarchy, and women's greater scores on sexual disgust, a construct tapping aversions to sexually adventurous behavior, are consistent with a preference for restricted sexuality. We analyze how these psychological motives relate to political orientation (N=757) and find that (a) there are indirect effects of gender on conservatism through social dominance orientation and sexual disgust, (b) there is a suppressor effect such that controlling for the indirect effect through sexual disgust leads the direct effect of gender to become substantially larger, (c) gender moderates the effect of sexual disgust on conservatism such that sexual disgust is a stronger predictor of conservatism among women, and (d) conservative moral foundations mediate the effect of sexual disgust on political conservatism.

The Underrepresentation of Women in Computing Fields: A Synthesis of Literature Using a Life Course Perspective

Using a life course perspective, this literature review synthesizes research on women’s underrepresentation in computing fields across four life stages: 1) pre-high school; 2) high school; 3) college major choice and persistence; and 4) post-baccalaureate employment. Issues associated with access to, and use of, computing resources at the pre-high school and high school levels are associated with gender differences in interest and attitudes toward computing. At the college level, environmental context (classroom design, interactions with peers and role models, signals from stereotypical images) contribute to whether students will major in computing, whereas psychosocial factors (e.g., sense of belonging and self-efficacy) and departmental culture play a role in persistence in computing fields. As in other fields, issues associated with work-life conflict, occupational culture, and mentoring/networking opportunities play a role in women’s participation in the computing workforce. Several initiatives and programs have been implemented to address women’s underrepresentation in computing fields. While great strides have been made in making computing more accessible, the life course perspective highlights the importance of longitudinal studies in identifying students’ pathways to and through computing fields, as well as how interventions across life stages may intersect or cumulate to generate trends in computing participation.

Academic Self-Efficacy of High Achieving Students in Mexico

The purpose of this study was to explore for differences in the academic self-efficacy of Mexican high schoolstudents. A gird questionnaire was administered to 1,460 students form private and public schools. As expected, highachieving students showed significantly higher academic self-efficacy that their peers. However, interesting genderdifferences were found. Whereas men had higher self-efficacy feelings towards Math, Sciences and English as asecond language; women showed higher self-efficacy in Spanish language. Likewise, private school’s studentsshowed feelings of academic self-efficacy. Implications of findings for education practice and research are discussed.

초등 SW교육에서 성별에 따른 컴퓨팅 사고력, 창의성, 학습흥미의 차이

초등 SW교육에서 성별에 따른 컴퓨팅 사고력, 창의성, 학습흥미의 차이

초등 SW교육에서 성별에 따른 컴퓨팅 사고력, 창의성, 학습흥미의 차이

초등 SW교육에서 성별에 따른 컴퓨팅 사고력, 창의성, 학습흥미의 차이

Understanding the MBA Gender Gap: Women Respond to Gender Norms by Reducing Public Assertiveness but Not Private Effort.

Women's underperformance in MBA programs has been the subject of recent debate and policy interventions, despite a lack of rigorous evidence documenting when and why it occurs. The current studies document a performance gap, specifying its contours and contributing factors. Two behaviors by female students that may factor into the gap are public conformity and private internalization. We predicted that women conform to the norm associating maleness with technical prowess by minimizing their public assertiveness in class discussions and meetings, but that they do not internalize the norm by reducing private effort. Data from multiple cohorts of a top-ranked MBA program reveal female underperformance occurred in technical subjects (e.g., accounting), but not social subjects (e.g., marketing). As predicted, the gender effect ran not through private effort but through public assertiveness, even controlling for gender differences in interests and aptitudes. These findings support some current policy interventions while casting doubt on others.

Interesting, but Less Interested: Gender Differences and Similarities in Mathematics Interest

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study was to examine gender differences in mathematics interest. In a sample of middle school students (N = 366), we examined mathematics interest as a trait (i.e., individual interest) and as a current state (i.e., situational interest) during a learning activity in mathematics. Assessment of perceived competence, performance, and effort during learning was also included. Results revealed a significant difference between boys and girls in their ratings of individual interest, but not in the current experience of situational interest. Furthermore, boys and girls did not differ in performance during learning, but girls invested significantly more effort than boys. Results and their implications are discussed in relation to interest development, gender differences, and subjective beliefs.

Engagement, Persistence, and Gender in Computer Science: Results of a Smartphone ESM Study.

While the underrepresentation of women in the fast-growing STEM field of computer science (CS) has been much studied, no consensus exists on the key factors influencing this widening gender gap. Possible suspects include gender differences in aptitude, interest, and academic environment. Our study contributes to this literature by applying student engagement research to study the experiences of college students studying CS, to assess the degree to which differences in men and women's engagement may help account for gender inequity in the field. Specifically, we use the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to evaluate in real-time the engagement of college students during varied activities and environments. Over the course of a full week in fall semester and a full week in spring semester, 165 students majoring in CS at two Research I universities were “beeped” several times a day via a smartphone app prompting them to fill out a short questionnaire including open-ended and scaled items. These responses were paired with administrative and over 2 years of transcript data provided by their institutions. We used mean comparisons and logistic regression analysis to compare enrollment and persistence patterns among CS men and women. Results suggest that despite the obstacles associated with women's underrepresentation in computer science, women are more likely to continue taking computer science courses when they felt challenged and skilled in their initial computer science classes. We discuss implications for further research.

The public’s opinions on a new school meals policy for childhood obesity prevention in the U.S.: A social media analytics approach

ObjectivesThis study investigates the public’s opinions on a new school meals policy for childhood obesity prevention, discovers aspects concerning those opinions, and identifies possible gender and regional differences in the U.S. MethodsWe collected 14,317 relevant tweets from 11,715 users since the national policy enactment on Feb 9, 2010 through Dec 31, 2015. We applied opinion mining techniques to classify tweets into positive, negative, and neutral categories, and conducted content analysis to gain insights into aspects of opinions in terms of target, holder, source, and function. ResultsThere were more negative tweets about the school meals policy than positive ones (16.8% vs. 12.9%), in addition to neutral tweets (70.3%). The main targets for negative opinions were campaign and food, and those for positive opinions were policy and health benefits. The opinion holders represent a wide range of policy stakeholders. The first-hand source dominated the opinions. Statement accounted for the function of most opinions. Females (62.5%) were more involved than males (37.5%), and people in the South and the West regions (64.2%) engaged themselves more than people in the Northeast and the Midwest (35.8%) of the U.S. ConclusionsNegative opinions about the school meals policy consistently outnumbered positive ones. The findings discovered the public’s opinions for policy improvement, contributed to the evidence base of health benefits for policy promotion and community collaboration, and revealed interesting gender and regional differences in the opinions. The social media analytics offers significant methodological implications for discovering the public opinions on food policies.

Explaining Gender Differences in Interests

This study integrated Holland’s themes within a modified social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model, exploring whether gender-related personality variables account for the relations between gender and vocational interests. Undergraduates ( N = 452) completed expressiveness, instrumentality, and realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (RIASEC)-based measures of learning experiences, self-efficacy, and interests. Through structural equation modeling, the paths via expressiveness and instrumentality fully explained gender’s effect on artistic and conventional interests, respectively. The paths through instrumentality partially explained gender’s effect on investigative and enterprising interests, while gender’s effect on social interest was partially explained through expressiveness and instrumentality when considering the path without self-efficacy. The paths through expressiveness and instrumentality partially explained gender’s effect on realistic interests. Adding direct paths from learning experiences to interests improved model fit for realistic, artistic, and social models. These results demonstrate the utility of concurrently assessing the RIASEC and SCCT frameworks to delineate factors that influence gender differences in vocational interests.

The interactive effects of dual‐earner couples’ job insecurity: Linking conservation of resources theory with crossover research

The present study examines job insecurity in the context of dual‐earner couples. Linking conservation of resources theory (e.g., Hobfoll, , Am. Psychol., 44, 513) with crossover research (e.g., Westman, , Hum. Relat., 54, 717), we proposed that a partner's job insecurity constitutes an additional resource threat. Thus, the partner's job insecurity would exacerbate a person's negative reaction to his or her own job insecurity in terms of attitudinal (i.e., work engagement) and both health‐ and withdrawal‐related outcomes (i.e., psychological health and turnover intention). Using a time‐lagged design and multisource data from 171 mixed‐gender dual‐earner couples, multilevel path analysis applying the Actor‐Partner‐Interdependence Model revealed interesting gender differences. The negative relationship between the husband's job insecurity and his work engagement was stronger, the higher his wife's job insecurity was. The data further showed a moderated mediation, such that the husband's job insecurity was negatively and indirectly related to both psychological health and turnover intention (via reduced work engagement) if his wife experienced a medium or high level of job insecurity. Our study demonstrates the interactive effects of stressors in dual‐earner couples, and highlights the importance of overcoming an overly individualistic perspective when studying job insecurity in particular and stressors more generally.Practitioner points Job insecurity has become a highly potent stressor for a large number of employees nowadays. In the context of dual‐earner couples, we demonstrate that husbands react more negatively to job insecurity if their wives experience job insecurity too. Dual‐earner couples are advised to diversify their occupational background, such that economic downturns in one industry sector are less likely to hit both partners. Due to the fact that particularly husbands were affected by the job insecurity of their wives, it is important to tailor psychotherapeutic approaches to this group. Because men are usually more reluctant to approach psychotherapeutic counselling, the rise of job insecurity underscores the need to circumvent chronic mental health problems with adequate interventions. Companies are advised to communicate with their employees in a transparent way, such that employees can better cope with organizational plans relating to mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing.

Dynamics of adolescents’ life satisfaction and effect of class rank percentile: Evidence from Korean panel data

This study investigates the dynamics of adolescents’ life satisfaction and the effects of academic success on life satisfaction using the Korean Youth Panel Survey (KYPS) 2003–2007 data. Unlike previous studies, our dynamic ordered probit models allow for persistence in life satisfaction which is attributable both to unobserved individual heterogeneity and to state dependence. First, we find that strong state dependence exists in adolescents’ life satisfaction, that is, current life satisfaction is significantly affected by the previous state. Second, we show that academic success undoubtedly has a positive effect on adolescents’ life satisfaction even after controlling for state dependence. Finally, we present that there exists an interesting gender difference: boys show stronger persistence in the state of high life satisfaction, whereas girls have stronger persistence in dissatisfaction.

Why are some STEM fields more gender balanced than others?

Women obtain more than half of U.S. undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry, and mathematics, yet they earn less than 20% of computer science, engineering, and physics undergraduate degrees (National Science Foundation, 2014a). Gender differences in interest in computer science, engineering, and physics appear even before college. Why are women represented in some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields more than others? We conduct a critical review of the most commonly cited factors explaining gender disparities in STEM participation and investigate whether these factors explain differential gender participation across STEM fields. Math performance and discrimination influence who enters STEM, but there is little evidence to date that these factors explain why women's underrepresentation is relatively worse in some STEM fields. We introduce a model with three overarching factors to explain the larger gender gaps in participation in computer science, engineering, and physics than in biology, chemistry, and mathematics: (a) masculine cultures that signal a lower sense of belonging to women than men, (b) a lack of sufficient early experience with computer science, engineering, and physics, and (c) gender gaps in self-efficacy. Efforts to increase women's participation in computer science, engineering, and physics may benefit from changing masculine cultures and providing students with early experiences that signal equally to both girls and boys that they belong and can succeed in these fields. (PsycINFO Database Record

Children's Gender-Typed Toy Interests: Does Propulsion Matter?

Children's toy play is at the foundation of child development. However, gender differentiation in early play experiences may result in gender differences in cognitive abilities, social interactions, and vocational choices. We investigated gender-typing of toys and toys' propulsive properties (e.g., wheels, forward motion) as possible factors impacting children's toy interests, perceptions of other children's interests, and children's actual toy choices during free play. In Studies 1 and 2, 82 preschool children (42 boys, 40 girls; mean age=4.90years) were asked to report their interest and perceptions of other children's interests in toys. In Study 1, masculine, feminine, and neutral toys with and without propulsive properties were presented. Children reported greater interest in gender-typed toys and neutral toys compared to cross-gender-typed toys. In Study 2, unfamiliar, neutral toys with and without propulsive properties were presented. Propulsive properties did not affect children's interest across both studies. Study 3 was an observational study that assessed toy preferences among 42 preschool children (21 males, 21 females, mean age=4.49years) during a play session with masculine, feminine, and neutral toys with and without propulsive properties. Gender-typed toy preferences were less apparent than expected, with children showing high interest in neutral toys, and girls playing with a wide variety of masculine, feminine, and neutral toys. Gender differences in interest for toys with propulsion properties were not evident. Overall, gender differences in children's interest in toys as a function of propulsion properties were not found in the three experiments within this study.

Gender Differences in the Moderating Effects of Parental Warmth and Hostility on the Association between Corporal Punishment and Child Externalizing Behaviors in China

The study examines gender differences in the moderating effects of parental warmth and hostility on the associations between corporal punishment and child externalizing problem behavior in China. Three hundred fifty-eight preschool-aged children and their fathers and mothers were recruited to participate in this survey. The findings revealed that parental hostility but not parental warmth would moderate the associations between parental corporal punishment and child externalizing problem behavior, and the moderating effects had some interesting gender differences. Specifically, maternal hostility strengthened the link between paternal corporal punishment and child externalizing problem behavior for boys but not for girls, and paternal hostility strengthened the link between paternal corporal punishment and child externalizing problem behavior for girls but not for boys. These findings broaden our understanding of the contextual factors that account for the associations between harsh discipline and child outcomes, particularly within the Chinese cultural context.