Gender and Access to College update
So, one of the strange but interesting findings from my 10th grade study was that the more important girls considered relationships, the more likely they were to go to college. However, the more important boys considered relationships, the LESS likely they were to go to college.
So, using the 12th grade follow-up (or rather, the 2 year later follow-up, not all were in 12th grade or even still in school), I tested every individual element of importance of relationships, namely (1) having a family, (2) marrying the right person, (3) supporting your family, (4) maintaining close ties with friends, and (5) taking care of a family member. Of those 5, only two work in different directions in the connection from importance of relationships to that specific 12th grade piece to attending college -- supporting your family and maintaining close ties with friends.
Supporting the family is not related to girls' views about relationships, but is to boys. And while supporting your family is a negative predictor for both genders, it is 5 times more likely to keep boys out of college than girls.
On the other hand, importance of relationships is related to girls having more school-oriented and supportive friends (more friends who want to go to college, more friends who want respondent to go to college, more friends who are involved in learning activities). Having more of these kinds of friend positively predicts both male and female attendance at post-secondary educational institutions, but it was almost 180 times more important for girls than for boys. Not percent, times. One SD increase in this composite predicted boys increasing their likelihood of attending PSE by 10%. The same change in the friend measure increased girls' likelihood of attending PSE by 178%.
So, "relationships" to 10th grade boys means taking a role in supporting the family, which is done in place of PSE. To girls, it means going along with your friends, and going to college because you care about your friends and they are going.
And all gets more complicated.
So, using the 12th grade follow-up (or rather, the 2 year later follow-up, not all were in 12th grade or even still in school), I tested every individual element of importance of relationships, namely (1) having a family, (2) marrying the right person, (3) supporting your family, (4) maintaining close ties with friends, and (5) taking care of a family member. Of those 5, only two work in different directions in the connection from importance of relationships to that specific 12th grade piece to attending college -- supporting your family and maintaining close ties with friends.
Supporting the family is not related to girls' views about relationships, but is to boys. And while supporting your family is a negative predictor for both genders, it is 5 times more likely to keep boys out of college than girls.
On the other hand, importance of relationships is related to girls having more school-oriented and supportive friends (more friends who want to go to college, more friends who want respondent to go to college, more friends who are involved in learning activities). Having more of these kinds of friend positively predicts both male and female attendance at post-secondary educational institutions, but it was almost 180 times more important for girls than for boys. Not percent, times. One SD increase in this composite predicted boys increasing their likelihood of attending PSE by 10%. The same change in the friend measure increased girls' likelihood of attending PSE by 178%.
So, "relationships" to 10th grade boys means taking a role in supporting the family, which is done in place of PSE. To girls, it means going along with your friends, and going to college because you care about your friends and they are going.
And all gets more complicated.