Gender and self-regulation in students

Abstract

Introduction: the literature states the importance of self-regulation and gender in school contexts. Therefore, it is necessary to review the published evidence on how the two variables interact. Objective: to describe research that addresses the variables gender and self-regulation in school contexts.Methods: a review was carried out using the PRISMA method, searching three databases, Scopus, Web of Science (WOS), and SciELO in July 2023, considering studies in early childhood, primary and secondary school contexts.Results: nineteen out of 94 articles identified were analyzed. All of these are quantitative and mostly explanatory. The reported results indicate that female students showed higher levels of self-regulation than male students There are clear differences in results across cultures, and gender is used as a predictor and moderator of self-regulation and other variables. On the language used to refer to gender, 17 publications were found that use terms referring to biological rather than gender differences. Conclusions: the results show the importance of the gender variable on self-regulation when used as a predictor and moderating variable. The need to take care with the language used to refer to gender and to justify the reasons for collecting data on this variable is evident, for the respective interpretations of the studies