There is growing concern among some commentators regarding the academic preparation and performance of male college students in the United States (Wilson, 2007). In this study, gender differences in approaches to learning and study strategies were examined in three samples of community college and university students (N ϭ 650; 274 men, 376 women) utilizing two instruments. Significant multivariate effects for gender were found for both approaches to learning and study strategies. Women scored significantly higher than men did on Deep Approach, Achieving Approach, Motivation, Self-Testing, use of Study Aids, and Time Management. Effect sizes ranged from small to medium (Cohen, 1992). These findings may be indicative of the types of academicsrelated behaviors and attitudes with which college men may need to be remediated.
This study explored whether connected and separate ways of knowing were related to deep and achieving approaches to learning in a sample of White/ Caucasian and Mexican-American community college students in the Southwestern and Midwestern United States. Two hundred forty-one students (72 men and 169 women) completed the Attitudes Towards Thinking and Learning Survey (ATTLS) and the Shortened Study Process Questionnaire (SSPQ). No significant differences in separate (SK) and connected knowing (CK) were found between White and Mexican-American students. However, men scored higher than women on separate knowing (SK) and lower on connected knowing (CK). In addition, both CK and SK were significantly related to a deep approach to learning; only CK was significantly related to achieving approach.
Gender differences in academic engagement and performance have been explored by a number of researchers, with many qualitative researchers asserting that male students who endorse popular notions of masculinity are less likely to be academically engaged in school (Francis, 1999;Jackson, 2003;Morris, 2008). In the current study, the potential relationship between conformity to masculine norms and behaviors reflective of academic engagement was explored in a sample of college students in the United States. Specifically, the relationship between conformity to masculine norms and various learning and study strategies and approaches to learning were explored using correlational and regression analyses. As predicted, conformity to various masculine norms predicted engagement in adaptive learning and study strategies, intrinsic goal orientation, and deep and surface approaches to learning. Of the 11 masculine norms, 2 significantly predicted deep approach to learning and 3 predicted surface approach; all of the predictions were in a direction consistent with the notion that greater conformity to masculine norms is associated with decreased levels of behaviors reflective of academic engagement. These results suggest that investigations of the gender gap in academic performance would benefit from greater attention to variables such as conceptions of masculinity, conformity to masculine norms, and gender identity.
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