Sociology Winter Colloquium

Gender Typicality and Academic Achievement Among American High School Students

Qualitative research finds that normative conceptions of masculinity may hinder boys’ academic achievement, but the plausibility of this relationship has not been investigated with nationally representative data.  In this talk, I present the findings of the first study to use nationally-representative data to examine whether differences in gender-typical behaviors among adolescents are associated with high school academic performance and whether such associations vary by race or social class. Results indicate that boys who report moderate levels of gender atypicality earn the highest GPAs, but few boys score in this range.  As gender typicality increases, boys’ GPAs decline steeply. In contrast, girls who practice moderate levels of gender typicality earn slightly higher GPAs than other girls. These patterns generally hold across race and social class groups.  I discuss the implications of these findings and important avenues for future research on gender inequalities in educational outcomes.