Sex differences in the relationship of interpersonal perceptions to academic performance

Abstract

The influences of pupils' perceptions regarding parents, peers, and teachers on academic performance have been well documented. Little has been written however concerning the differential effect for boys and girls of each of these agents. The present study, in attempting to answer this question, compares boys and girls in a multi-stage analysis of selected interpersonal perceptual correlates of academic performance.Research comparing the general intelligence levels of boys and girls has uncovered negligible differences. At the same time, consistent differences between the sexes in academic achievement have been found. The discrepancy, therefore, between the relative achievement of boys and girls, or the degree to which each utilizes his intelligence in the classroom, seems due to factors other than intellectual capacity.Some non-intellectual variables which have been shown to relate to a pupil's academic performance level include familial social class, perceived peer group status, satisfaction with the teacher, and perceived parental attitudes toward school. Studies have indicated that each of these variables was related positively to academic performance when intelligence was controlled, i.e., middle class pupils utilized their abilities more completely than lower class pupils (Curry, 1962) ; pupils who perceived themselves as liked by their peers performed better than those who thought of themselves as being disliked (Schmuck, Luszki, & Epperson, 1963) ; pupils who were satisfied with their teachers performed better than those who were dissatisfied (Epperson, 1962) ; and finally pupils who perceived positive parental attitudes toward school utilized their abilities more than those who did not hold such perceptions (Luszki & Schmuck, in press). Sex of the pupils was not controlled in the studies in which these findings were reported. Van Egmond (1963) discovered that the performance level of boys mas influenced primarily by power relationships, while that of the girls primarily by affective relationships, but he did not compare the sexes on the relative effects of parents and teachers on intellectual efficiency. The multi-stage analyses presented below controlled the effects of sex differences, while investigating the relationships between these three areas of interpersonal influence (parents, peers, and the teacher) and a pupil's academic performance.

Some determinants of children's self-reward behavior after exposure to discrepant reward criteria.

“…Several explanations might be offered for this finding. First, many investigators, using various measures, have reported higher achievement behavior among girls of elementary and high school age (Norman, Clark, & Bessemer, 1962;Phillips, 1962;Schmuck & Van Egmond, 1965). It might be assumed that the less frequent self-reinforcement found in girls in the present study is indeed a correlate of their higher achievement orientation.…”