GSE/RES Gender Differences in Science and Math: Diversity and the Role of Social Context

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The University of Texas at Austin is examining gendered performance and student choices of advanced math and science courses in high school, and the choice of a related major in college. The goal of the study is to discern how such choices are influenced by social context. The team is examining both the immediate within-school contexts of students' friendship groups, associations with academic peers, and exposure to rigorous academic curricula, as well as the broader social context across schools, characterized by a school's social and academic, the math and science curriculum available and courses offered, and socio-economic aspects of the communities within which the schools are embedded. They pay special attention to how these processes differ for key population subgroups, including students of different race and ethnicity, social class, and immigrant generational status.The intellectual merit of the study is based largely in the strength of(1) the acknowledgement that the science and math trajectories of female and male students throughout high school and college are complex and multi-faceted, and do not necessarily follow one major pattern,(2) the conceptualization, that the social contexts within and across schools influence the choices and performance of female and male students,(3) the recognition that the trajectories and the social mechanisms that influence them may be different for subgroups of diverse students (i.e. racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and immigrant population subgroups) and(4) the analytic approach that applies rigorous research methodology to analysis of a major new large and nationally representative data set that is well designed to measure the multiple social contexts of the conceptual framework.First, the design of the study highlights the various science and math trajectories actually traveled by female and male students across multiple time points and transitions, rather than assuming an apriori or singular path. Further, the premise of social context influencing girls' science and math attainment has previously been applied to studies of gender differences in science and math primarily in small-scale or qualitative studies, or in contrast, in very broad treatments of national or international trends. The study builds on this literature by suggesting a framework of female students' choices and performance occurring within the constraints of an opportunity structure, one that includes both the immediate social context within schools, as well as the broader social context of schools and communities themselves. Additionally, the study's merit derives from consideration of the complexities of gendered experiences, by examining how the science and math trajectories taken, and the influence of the social context on such pathways, may be different for girls from different race and ethnic groups, social classes, and immigrant generational status. Finally, the merit of the study also stems from the use of new and nationally-representative data on schools and students (the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA) component of the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)), which allows the examination of the effects of contextual factors on gendered choices within and across schools for the first time, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques such as hierarchical linear modeling, and the consideration of academic trajectories in additional subjects to provide a contrast to the study of science and math.Broader Impact. First, while there have been a large number of studies examining gendered differences in math and science areas, the consideration of the social context within and across schools adds to the general understanding of the problem by focusing on how both immediate and broad contexts function to provide information and encouragement about gendered norms and opportunities that subsequently influence the performance and the choices girls make in the traditionally male-dominated fields of science and math. Additionally by investigating which characteristics of schools and the course curriculum encourage girls to choose math and science courses and further programs of study, the study can offer evidence of how schools can play an active role in promoting gender equality. By highlighting how schools vary in the extent to which girls are represented in advanced math and science courses in high school, the team hopes to dispel the notion that the gender gap is a constant and unyielding phenomenon, characterized by girls' failure to meet the same levels of their male peers. Finally, the use of high quality nationally representative data with a large sample size allows the investigation of racial and ethnic, social class, and immigrant subgroups differences in the effects of context. This is extremely important for understanding how these social mechanisms may operate differently within various subpopulations, and consequently, how to better design policies that promote gender equity.