Gender Differences in the Effects of Socioeconomic Background: Recent Cross-National Evidence

Abstract

This article examines two related questions: (1) Are there gender differences in the influence of socioeconomic background on students' educational performance? and (2) Is student performance influenced more by the socioeconomic characteristics of the same-sex parent? Seven hypotheses are derived and tested using data from 30 countries on student performance in reading and mathematics. There is little or no gender difference in the effects of socioeconomic background on educational performance in almost all countries examined. In no country are all the hypotheses relating to the same-sex socialization model supported, although there is a tendency for father's socioeconomic characteristics and father's occupation to have a stronger impact among boys in some countries. There were very few instances where mother's characteristics were stronger among girls. In sum, there is only limited evidence to support the same-sex socialization model for educational performance.