Gender Roles and Achievement-Related Choices: A Comparison of Early Adolescent Girls in Gifted and General Education Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare early-adolescent girls in gifted and general education programs on constructs related to gender-role stereotyping. Participants included 132 girls in a gifted program and 77 girls in general education. All participants were in grades 6–8. Because the gifted group was significantly higher in socioeconomic status than the general education group, this variable was covaried in the analyses. Results showed that girls in the gifted education program held stronger self-perceptions of instrumentality (or stereotypically masculine personality attributes), evidenced higher achievement motivation, were less traditional in their career aspirations, and were more liberal toward the rights and roles of women than their peers in general education. The two groups did not differ significantly on self-perceptions of expressiveness (or stereotypically feminine personality traits), degree of competitiveness, or fear of success. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding differences in gender-role stereotyping and achievement-related choices between girls in gifted and general education programs.