Adolescent Girls’ and Boys’ Science Peer Relationships and Perceptions of the Possible Self as Scientist

Girls tend to have less peer support for their science interests than do boys, which may contribute to gender differences in science motivation. The effect of science peer relationships on adolescents visions of their possible personal future lives as scientists was studied in 161 female and 163 male gifted high school students who participated in summer science enrichment programs. Student reports of having positive science peer relationships were associated with more positive expectations of the possible personal self as scientist prior to the programs, and both program-related and nonprogram-related science peer relationships were associated with changes in the possible self at posttesting and at 6 month follow-up. These relations held for both male and female students. At follow-up, girls reported a stronger social niche with fellow program participants and stronger science peer relationships than did boys. Implications of the findings are discussed within the larger gendered societal context for science achievement.     

On the use of global and specific measures in assessing the self-esteem of males and females

General measures of self-esteem have often been unsuccessful in predicting specific behaviors or self-reports, particularly those of female subjects. To explore this problem, this study examined the relationship between a general measure of self-esteem and specific measures of agentic and communal self-esteem in a sample of 79 female and 97 male undergraduates. Three agentic measures were found to account for a greater proportion of the variance in general self-esteem scores of males (51%) than of females (33%). This difference was accentuated when traditionally sex-typed subjects were compared separately; the percentages for these groups were 45% for masculine males and 14% for feminine females. Differences between male and female subjects regarding the communal measure were small and nonsignificant. Implications for sex typing and the measurement of self-esteem are considered.     

Predictors of Change in Feminist Activism Through Women’s and Gender Studies

Predictors of change in feminist activism were studied in a group of 519 women and 143 men enrolled in 48 women’s and gender studies (WGS) classes on six college campuses in a large Midwestern urban area. Over the semester-long classes, students increased their feminist activist behaviors and intention to engage in future activism. Although women had greater activist behaviors and intentions than men, increases were similar for women and men across time. African American and Euro American students increased to a similar extent and more so than Asian American students. Predictors of change included student initial gender attitudes, changes in attitudes over time, and feelings of empowerment gained from the class. Feelings of distress and anger were unrelated to activism. Both awareness of sexism and gender egalitarianism were predictive of changes in activist intentions, whereas only awareness of sexism predicted changes in activist behaviors. Empowerment mediated the relation between attitudes and activism. Pedagogical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Situation and person-centered approaches to promoting leadership behavior in low performance self-esteem women

In each of 84 mixed-sex dyads, a low performance self-esteem woman was appointed to the role of leader in the dyad's decision-making task. Situation and person-centered approaches to promoting the woman's leadership behavior were tested by providing information regarding the women's task-relevant competence to one, both, or neither dyad member prior to the day of the task. Decision outcome scores and ratings of audio tapes served as measures of dyadic influence. When women were given the leadership information beforehand, they were more leaderlike and their partners were more acquiescent; informing men beforehand had little effect on the interaction, especially when the women had not been informed. Subjects' postdiscussion self-ratings, partner ratings, and perceived partner ratings suggested subtle forms of male defensiveness and more obvious forms of female discomfort with the leader role.     

Performance-self-esteem and dominance behavior in mixed-sex dyads1

Past studies suggest that males tend to be more dominant than females in task-oriented, mixed-sex groups. It was hypothesized that one factor accounting for this sex difference is performance-self-esteem. Subjects were 44 male-female pairs (college undergraduates) who participated in a decision-making task. As predicted, female performance-self-esteem level was related to the dominance cluster of opinions, disagreements, and decision outcome scores (p < .035). Females were more dominant and males less dominant in dyads containing high performance-self-esteem females; the reverse was true in dyads containing low performance-self-esteem females. No relationship was found between male performance-self-esteem level and dominance. Also, with performance-self-esteem level controlled, no overall sex difference in dominance occurred. However, some sex differences were found in the relationships between outcome satisfaction and dominance for high and low performance-self-esteem subjects.     

Exploring attributions in natural settings: Gender and self-esteem effects

Two studies investigated the attributions of undergraduates for the outcomes of satisfying and dissatisfying achievement events that occurred naturally over the course of a 3-week period. In both studies, women with low performance self-esteem gave less ego-enhancing attributions than high self-esteem women, high self-esteem men, or low self-esteem men. Also, in Study 2 high self-esteem subjects attributed greater stability to causes of satisfying events than to causes of dissatisfying events, whereas low self-esteem subjects gave both types of events equivalent stability ratings. Both studies provide evidence of consistent individual differences in attributional style across occasions and situations. The gender differences were interpreted in the context of sex-role socialization factors and Anderson and Slusher's (1986) two-stage model of the attribution process.     

The influence of teacher models on the career confidence and motivation of college students

Sex Roles - Changes in undergraduates' career-related confidence and motivation were tested in a sample of 107 females and 72 males during their first college year. Subjects identified their...     

Career Goals of College Women and Men and Perceived Achievement-Related Encouragement

Encouragements and discouragements for achievement-related behavior were reported in an interview setting by three groups of college seniors: Career women (n = 20), career men (n = 20), and traditional women (n = 19). Career women reported significantly more encouragement from teachers, family members (except parents), and significant others of the opposite sex than did either career men or traditional women. Career women also reported more encouragement from counselors and friends, while career men reported more encouragement from parents; however, these differences were not significant. Career women reported a significantly higher grade point average than either of the other groups. Implications of the results for the achievement behavior of women and men are considered.     

The effect of culture and self‐construals on predispositions toward verbal communication

This study tested the effects of culture and self‐construals (i.e., independence and interdependence) on predispositions toward verbal communication. For the purpose of this study, we focused on two main areas of verbal communication predispositions: (a) communication apprehension and (b) argumentativeness. In our path model, we expected that culture‐level individualism increases one's construal of self as independent, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of argumentativeness and a lower level of communication apprehension. We also expected that culture‐level individualism decreases one's construal of self as interdependent, which, in turn, leads to a lower degree of argumentativeness and a higher level of communication apprehension. Data to test the model were drawn from undergraduates (N=539) studying in Korea, Hawaii, and mainland U.S. The data were partially consistent with the theoretical predictions made. The implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.