Are There Gender Stereotypes in Non-academic Extracurricular Activities? A Comparative Study Based on SSES Database

• In Event: Poster Session Group 6
  In Poster Session: Are There Gender Stereotypes in Non-academic Extracurricular Activities? A Comparative Study Based on SSES Database

Proposal

Increasing emphasis on gender equity in formal elementary education worldwide helps girls get equal educational opportunities and educational resources. Many studies showed shrinking gender gap in academics and cognition than before. However, with the expansion of extracurricular activities (EAs, divided into academic EAs or shadow education and non-academic EAs), gender difference in EAs especially non-academic EAs is far less studied. Non-academic EAs such as sports, arts, community services promote different dimensions of social emotional skills. So, gender stereotypes in non-academic EAs may lead to disparities in social emotional skills, which tend to influence students’ preferences in future selection of university majors and jobs.

Thus, this relatively underlying gender inequity out of formal school education is worthy of attention. Based on Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) database from OECD, the research aims at answering the following questions.

What is the relationship between non-academic EAs and social emotional skills from aspects of type and patterns of non-academic EAs?

Existing literature found that, compared to academic EAs, non-academic EAs had more positive effects on social emotional development. But there are several limitations in studies of non-academic EAs and social emotional skills. First, social emotional skills were seldom measured based on an elaborate framework. Second, most research only focused on whether students attended non-academic EAs and specific types of non-academic EAs were less considered. Third, patterns of non-academic EAs were overlooked. Currently many students attend multiple non-academic EAs, which appear diverse patterns. That is, students may prefer different combinations of non-academic EAs. Pattern analysis could present a comprehensive rather than isolated and fragmented view of non-academic EAs participation. Thus, firstly, research testifies correlative relationship between types of non-academic EAs and five dimensions of social emotional skills. Then, latent class analysis (LCA), a sample-based classification method, is utilized to explore latent classes of non-academic EAs participation in subgroups. At last, based on explored patterns, the relationship between patterns of non-academic EAs and social emotional skills are examined.

Are there gender stereotypes in patterns of non-academic EAs?

Affected by some gender stereotypes, parents’ preferences and students’ own interests of patterns of non-academic EAs may vary with gender. Importantly, when participating these activities, students not only obtain corresponding skills but also develop diverse social emotional skills such as creativity, responsibility and collaboration. These skills are gradually imbedded in students and influencing their cognition, evaluation and expectation of themselves, which will further influence their choices of university majors and future jobs. Therefore, this research tries to uncover gender stereotypes and gender socialization from the aspect of patterns of non-academic EAs.

Do these gender stereotypes vary with economic and cultural contexts of countries?

At last, the research will examine whether the explored gender stereotypes above vary with countries. In SSES database, nine countries with different economic development levels and cultural backgrounds especially the boys’ preference provide a great possibility to do this comparative analysis.

Author

• Yu Sun, Penn State College of Education