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Differences between girls and boys in terms of mathematical achievement and emotions
in the Finnish lower secondary school
Marja E. Hytönen, Markku S. Hannula, Pirjo Aunio, and Erkki Komulainen
University of Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
Emotions are strongly connected to achievement and learning in mathematics. However, out
of emotions, only anxiety in mathematics has been studied more extensively. This study
examines the students’ (n=1412; Mage=14.44) experienced emotions in terms of mathematics
and their mathematics achievement in the Finnish lower secondary school. We have been
particularly interested in determining the gender differences in mathematics related emotions
and mathematics achievement. Emotions were measured via an emotion questionnaire based
on the students’ personal assessments. The measured emotions were enjoyment, pride,
anxiety, anger, hopelessness, shame and boredom. Achievement in mathematics was
measured on the basis of the mathematics grades and a standard mathematics test. The
conference presentation presents the results of the study.
Keywords: achievement, emotions, gender differences, lower secondary school,
mathematics
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Introduction
The role of emotions in mathematics has been studied relatively little. Majority of studies
concerning mathematics have targeted beliefs, motivation or attitudes (e.g., Else-Quest,
Hyde, & Linn, 2010; Ma & Xu, 2004; OECD, 2004). Although it has been show in
qualitative studies that students experience several emotions during mathematical problemsolving (DeBellis & Goldin, 2006; Op‘t Eynde, De Corte, & Verschaffel, 2006; Op‘t Eynde
& Hannula, 2006), only anxiety in mathematics has been extensively studied quantitatively
(Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hembree, 1990; Kyttälä & Björn, 2010; Ma, 1999; OECD, 2004).
Several studies have shown that girls experience more anxiety in mathematics than boys (e.g.,
Else-Quest et al., 2010; Frenzel, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007a; Kyttälä & Björn, 2010; OECD,
2004). However, only a few studies (Frenzel, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007) have examined the
differences between the genders in a variety of emotions in mathematics. Frenzel et al. (2007)
have shown that girls in the primary school experience more mathematics-related anxiety,
hopelessness and shame, but also less enjoyment and pride than boys. In order to support the
learning of both girls and boys in mathematics, it is important to determine the gender
differences in terms of a variety of emotions and mathematics more extensively. This kind of
study may also help in understanding why girls only rarely apply to mathematical or
scientific careers (OECD, 2004).
Even though girls experience more anxiety in mathematics, the differences in mathematics
achievement between the genders have narrowed (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hyde, Fennema, &
Lamon, 1990; Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis, & Williams, 2008; Lindberg, Hyde, Petersen, &
Linn, 2010; OECD, 2004; OECD, 2010). Regardless of the slight advantage of boys in terms
of mathematics achievement, girls may often receive a higher grade in mathematics when
compared to boys (Downey & Vogt Yuan, 2005; Kenney-Benson, Pomerantz, Ryan, &
Patrick, 2006). However, differences between sexes have been found in different
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mathematics domain and items. Boys seem to have more success in spatial ability or
geometry (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Liu & Wilson, 2009; OECD, 2004), while girls perform
better in computations (Hyde et al., 1990; Wei et al., 2012) and algebra (Abedalaziz, 2010;
Else-Quest et al., 2010; Innabi & Dodeen, 2006). Gender differences in mathematical
problem-solving seem to be very small, or this not occurs to a significant extent until high
school, when boys begin to perform better (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hyde et al., 1990;
Lindberg et al., 2010). It has been interesting to notice that boys seem to perform better on
mathematical items which relate to actual life, cannot be found in the textbook, and cannot be
solved using familiar algorithms. Girls, on the other hand, seem to perform better in familiar
mathematical items found in the textbook and solved using straight algorithms. (Abedalaziz,
2010; Gallagher & Richard De Lisi, 1994; Harris & Carlton, 1993; Innabi & Dodeen, 2006)
However, these studies have often been limited to high school students.
The goal of this study was to determine the emotions experienced by 8th grade students
(Mage=14.44, SD=.53) in mathematics, as well as their mathematics achievement in the
Finnish lower secondary school. The emotions are determined on the basis of the Pekrun’s
control value theory (Pekrun, 2006), where achievement emotions are connected to both
achievement outcomes (e.g., failure and success) and achievement activities (e.g., learning,
studying and tests). This study examined the typical emotional experiences of students in
mathematics in terms of seven achievement emotions: enjoyment, pride, shame, anxiety,
hopelessness, boredom, and anger related to mathematics (Pekrun, Goetz, & Frenzel, 2005).
The study laid special emphasis on potential gender differences in terms of these emotions
and mathematics achievement. Success in mathematics was measured on the bases of their
grade in mathematics and a standard mathematics test (Räsänen & Leino, 2005).
Results
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First, the t-test showed that girls (M=7.67, SD=1.39) had significantly higher,
t(1352)=4.35, p<.001, d=.23, mathematics grades than boys (M=7.35, SD=1.37). There were
no significant gender difference, t(1355)=1.93, p=.054, d= .11, in mathematics test
performance between girls (M=22.23, SD=7.59) and boys (M=23.01, SD=7.24). The Chisquare test with continuity correction was used to examine gender differences in mathematics
items. Boys performed significantly (p<.05) better on word problems items which included
units (9 items), items which require unit or number conversion (4 items) or understanding of
unit (1 item), whereas girls performed significantly (p<.05) better on computations (4 items)
or equation solving items (2 items).
Concerning emotions, students reported to experience most frequently pride (M=2.91,
SD=.87), second most enjoyment (M=2.46, SD=.77) and boredom (M=2.46, SD=.95) in
mathematics. The t-test revealed that girls experienced significantly more hopelessness,
t(1409)=3.84, p<.001, d=.21, and less pride, t(1410)=3.24, p<.01, d=.17, and enjoyment,
t(1410)=3.19, p<.01, d=.17. One way ANCOVA was also conducted to control for the effect
of students’ mathematics achievement. In this analysis emotion was set as the dependent
variable, gender was set as the independent variable, and the mathematics achievement
variables (scores of the mathematics test, mathematics grades and the interaction of those
variables) were controlled. Then girls experienced significantly less enjoyment, t(1300)
=5.22, p<.001, d=.29, pride, t(1300)=5.42, p<.001, d=.30, and more anxiety, t(1300)=3.27,
p<.001, d=.19, hopelessness, t(1300) =5.51, p<.000, d=.31, and boredom, t(1300)=2.81,
p<.01, d=.16, than boys.
Discussion
This study revealed that girls had significantly higher mathematics grades, although there
were no significant gender differences in the mathematics test. This is line with studies
announcing that the gender difference in mathematics performance is very small (e.g., Hyde
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et al., 2008), although girls have better mathematics grades (e.g., Kenney-Benson et al.,
2006). Further, boys performed significantly better in word problem items and items which
ask for unit or number conversion. These items connected to everyday life (e.g., taxes,
travel), including units, and not directly related textbook. On the other hand, girls were
slightly better on some items which assess computations or equation solving. These findings
strengthen earlier studies (Hyde et al., 1990; Wei et al., 2012; Abedalaziz, 2010; Else-Quest
et al., 2010). It also seems that items in which girls performed slightly better were straightforward, very textbook-like, and algorithmic. Thus our findings seem to support previous
studies (Abedalaziz, 2010; Gallagher & Richard De Lisi, 1994; Harris & Carlton, 1993;
Innabi & Dodeen, 2006) which investigated gender differences in mathematics items. The
information found in this or earlier studies is not only important for teacher when they direct
their instruction to the needs of girls or boys, it could also help the teachers to create
appropriate assessments which take into account girls 'and boys' different strengths in
mathematics.
We also found that Finnish eight graders most frequently reported to experience pride,
enjoyment, and boredom in mathematics. These results are consistent with the previous
findings which relieved that boredom is often experienced in mathematics classroom
(Daschmann, Goetz, & Stupnisky, 2011). Further, girls experienced significantly more
hopelessness and less pride and enjoyment. When the mathematics achievement was
controlled the stronger gender differences were found. Then girls experienced significantly
more hopelessness, anxiety, and boredom, less pride and enjoyment than boys. The results
correspond to earlier findings showing that girls in the primary school experienced less
enjoyment, and pride but more hopelessness than boys (Frenzel et al., 2007). Thus the
fundamental future challenge to educational practice is how we can reduce negative emotions
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experienced in mathematics related situations and convert them into more positive mainly in
girls.
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