“Boys Will Be Boys” in the United States, But Not in Asia, Finds Study Led by Pitt Researcher

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2013-06-13 01:18

Article here. Excerpt:

'PITTSBURGH—A new study led by a University of Pittsburgh researcher shows there is a gender gap when it comes to behavior and self-control in American children—one that does not appear to exist in children in Asia.

In the United States, according to the study, girls have higher levels of self-regulation than boys. In China, South Korea, and Taiwan, the study found no gender gap when researchers directly assessed the self-regulation of 3-to-6-year-olds. Self-regulation is defined as children’s ability to control their behavior and impulses, follow directions, and persist in completing a task. The results appear in the most recent issue of the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly.

“These findings suggest that although we often expect girls to be more self-regulated than boys, this may not be the case for Asian children,” said Shannon Wanless, lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in Education in Pitt’s School of Education.'

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Comments

I'm always interested in nature vs nurture topics. This study is suggesting that behavior and impulse control in boys are a result of nurture (cultural upbringing).

I think when children have high expectations placed on them, they are more likely to live up to them. The pictures I see of Asian classrooms the children are wearing uniforms or adhering to a strict dress code (button-up shirts with collars). Asians also do more rote learning, desks facing forward, etc things that are more conducive to the way boys learn. In America we have desks facing each other to promote talking and distractions...er, I mean "networking" and "group learning", which I think may be part of the problem.

I also think we have to be careful in what we decide is behavioral self-control versus a person whipped into compliant behavior.

The study was based on teacher's observations, and teachers tend to be biased. I do also wonder how Asians treat boys who can't live up to high academic standards (learning disabilities, have a hard time in school, etc. Do Asian schools weed them out?) and I also wonder how the boys who have compliant behavior or self-control measure success as adults (i.e. are they happy, what is the suicide rate?).

So I do like this topic of study, I would like to see more studies that account for more factors and more sources of evaluations (simply because I think teachers and classroom setting are too biased)

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Submitted by Kris on Thu, 2013-06-13 21:39