The Education Gender Gap: How Parent/Child Reading Trends and Parent Academic Expectations are Impacted by a Child’s Gender

Abstract

Over the past 40 years, there has been a female-favoring trend in academic achievement. Females are not only achieving more higher education degrees, but they are also entering kindergarten more prepared academically than their male peers. There are many possible factors that influence academic achievement. Parental involvement, specifically through their actions and academic expectations, are very influential in the overall academic achievement of a child. Consequently, parent involvement could be a possible contributor to this overall gender disparity. It is therefore very important to look at possible differences in the behaviors and expectations of parents based on their child’s gender to be able to better understand the overall female-favoring academic attainment gap. In this thesis, I examine possible factors that lead to the female-favoring academic attainment gap. To do so, I analyze data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Program’s research on the Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011. In this data, I look to see if there are differences in whether a parent reads to their child every day and if a parent expects their child to graduate from college, based on the child’s gender. I also look at the relationship between socioeconomic status and these outcome variables of interest. Finally, I test to see if there is a relationship between the interaction of socioeconomic status and the child’s gender and these dependent variables. In order to find these relationships, I conduct a series of Pearson’s Chi-Squared Tests and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regressions. I expect to find trends in the data that show parents favoring daughters rather than sons. In my analysis, I do find evidence that parents are more likely to reads to their child every day in kindergarten and first grade if their child is a girl. I also find that there is a female-favoring disparity in likelihood of parents expecting their child to graduate from college in kindergarten, third grade, and fifth grade. I find that socioeconomic status has a positive association with these two variables, meaning that as SES levels increase, the likelihood of being read to every day and likelihood of a parent expecting their child to graduate from college also increase. Finally, I do not observe the likelihood of a parent reading to their child every day change when controlling for parental expectations, which therefore provides evidence that expectations do not serve as a mediator for reducing gender disparities in parental behaviors. These findings suggest that there is a disparity in the amount of involvement parents have in their child’s education. This disparity could therefore add to the overall female-favoring gender gap in education. These results highlight the need for more policies geared towards reducing the gender gap in education and gender biases that parents show in their involvement in their child’s education. They also highlight the need for further research on the topic.