TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender integration and elementary-age students' classroom belongingness
T2 - The importance of other-gender peers
AU - Martin, Carol Lynn
AU - Xiao, Sonya Xinyue
AU - DeLay, Dawn
AU - Hanish, Laura D.
AU - Fabes, Richard A.
AU - Morris, Stacy
AU - Oswalt, Krista
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the superintendents, teachers, parents, and students in the Mesa and Kyrene Districts for their interest and cooperation with the research project. The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, through Grant R305A180028 to C. Martin (PI) at Arizona State University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the US Department of Education.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Most US students attend coeducational classes, but to what extent do students feel integrated into the entire classroom of their peers, especially with other-gender (OG) peers? The major goal of this study was to investigate how variations in gender integration (GI), measured by students' expectancies about inclusion, efficacy, and social costs of interacting with OG peers, predicted school liking and classroom supportiveness over an academic year, using a short-term longitudinal design. We also explored how students' expectancies changed over the year. Participants included elementary school students (515 school-age children; 51% boys, Mage = 9.08 years, SD = 1.00; 3–5th grade; 26 classrooms). A two-wave latent change score model showed that changes over the year varied depending on the type of expectancy, grade, and gender, with decreases in inclusion and efficacy for boys. Longitudinal path analyses conducted to assess whether GI expectancies predicted school belongingness showed that students' levels of OG inclusion in the Fall uniquely predicted changes in levels of school liking and classroom community over the year, even with many controls in the model. The findings demonstrate that students' relationships with OG peers matter for having a sense of belonging in school, and educators should support and encourage these relationships.
AB - Most US students attend coeducational classes, but to what extent do students feel integrated into the entire classroom of their peers, especially with other-gender (OG) peers? The major goal of this study was to investigate how variations in gender integration (GI), measured by students' expectancies about inclusion, efficacy, and social costs of interacting with OG peers, predicted school liking and classroom supportiveness over an academic year, using a short-term longitudinal design. We also explored how students' expectancies changed over the year. Participants included elementary school students (515 school-age children; 51% boys, Mage = 9.08 years, SD = 1.00; 3–5th grade; 26 classrooms). A two-wave latent change score model showed that changes over the year varied depending on the type of expectancy, grade, and gender, with decreases in inclusion and efficacy for boys. Longitudinal path analyses conducted to assess whether GI expectancies predicted school belongingness showed that students' levels of OG inclusion in the Fall uniquely predicted changes in levels of school liking and classroom community over the year, even with many controls in the model. The findings demonstrate that students' relationships with OG peers matter for having a sense of belonging in school, and educators should support and encourage these relationships.
KW - gender integration
KW - gender relationships
KW - inclusion
KW - school belongingness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127284217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85127284217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/pits.22687
DO - 10.1002/pits.22687
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127284217
SN - 0033-3085
VL - 59
SP - 1492
EP - 1510
JO - Psychology in the Schools
JF - Psychology in the Schools
IS - 8
ER -