AsianScientist (Jun. 4, 2013) – A new international study shows there is a gender gap when it comes to behavior and self-control in American children – one that does not appear to exist in children in Asia.
The study, published recently in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly, was led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh who conducted assessments of 814 children in the United States, China, and South Korea.
In the United States, the study found that girls had higher levels of self-regulation than boys. In China, South Korea, and Taiwan, the study found no gender gap when researchers directly assessed the self-regulation of 3-to-6-year-olds. Self-regulation is defined as children’s ability to control their behavior and impulses, follow directions, and persist in completing a task.
“These findings suggest that although we often expect girls to be more self-regulated than boys, this may not be the case for Asian children,” said Shannon Wanless, lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology.
Although there were no gender differences in self-regulation when the children were directly assessed using a variety of school-readiness tasks in a quiet space, teachers in Asia perceived girls as performing better on self-regulation even when they and boys actually performed equally when assessed overall.
“Teachers are rating children’s behavior in the classroom environment, which has a lot of distractions and is very stimulating,” Wanless said. “It is possible that boys in the Asian countries were able to self-regulate as well as girls when they were in a quiet space (the direct assessment), but were not able to regulate themselves as well in a bustling classroom environment (teacher ratings).”
Wanless said this study paves the way for future research to explore why there is such a large gender gap in the United States and what can be learned from Asian schools.
“What can we learn from Asian cultural and teaching practices about how we can support girls and boys to be successful in school?” she said. “When we see differences in developmental patterns across countries it suggests that we might want to look at teaching and parenting practices in those countries and think about how they might apply in the United States.”
The article can be found at: Wanless SB et al. (2013) Gender Differences in Behavioral Regulation in Four Societies: The U.S., Taiwan, South Korea, and China.
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Source: U of Pittsburgh.
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