FEMININE GENDER-ROLE BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT - THEIR RELATION IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF MIDDLE CHILDHOOD BOYS

Previous studies on the relationship between gender role behavior and academic achievement and/or cognitive abilities in boys have led to so mewhat conflicting hypotheses. The present study extends these hypothe ses to a broadly representative school-based sample of boys (ages 6-10 years) and asks whether feminine and/or masculine gender role behavio r is associated with lower academic achievement in general as well as specifically in math, and whether these relationships increase with ag e. The parents of 333 boys (74% of the eligible sample) who attended o ne public school system in northern New Jersey agreed to participate. The survey included two psychometrically robust gender role behavior q uestionnaires as well as the Child Behavior Checklist, which contains a scale concerned with school achievement, all based on parental repor t. In addition, the results of the routinely school-administered Calif ornia Achievement Tests were analyzed. The results only weakly and som ewhat inconsistently supported the hypotheses. We conclude that variat ions of gender role behavior as seen in a school-based sample are only marginally correlated with school achievement. The correlation patter ns vary with the aspect of gender role behavior-masculinity, femininit y-under investigation and with age.