Socialization of Achievement Attitudes and Beliefs: Classroom Influences

Abstract

PARSONS, JACQUELYNNE ECCLES; KACZALA, CAROLINE M.; and MEECE, JUDITH L. Socialization of Achievement Attitudes and Beliefs: Classroom Influences. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 322-339. The relation between classroom experiences and individual differences in expectations for future success in mathematics courses, self-concept of math abilities and perceptions of the difficulty of math were investigated in an observational study of 17 math classrooms for grades 5-9. 2 questions were addressed: (1) Does the sex of the student or the teacher's expectation for the student influence the nature of student-teacher interactions? (2) Do variations in teacherstudent interaction patterns affect student attitudes? Although few sex differences emerged, girls received less criticism than boys, especially low-teacher-expectancy boys, and high-teacher-expectancy females received less praise than other groups. No support was found for sex differences in teacher discriminant use of praise and criticism. Some support was found for more general sex differences and teacher expectation differences in teacher behavior. Multiple-regression analyses, with the students' past grades used as a control variable, showed that teacher behaviors influence children's attitudes but the effects differ for males and females; for example, self-concept of ability for boys, but not for girls, was predicted by relatively high levels of both teacher criticism and praise. In general, past grades and student-teacher interaction variables accounted for a larger percentage of the variation in boys' attitudes than in girls'. In the second set of analyses 2 types of classrooms were compared: classrooms in which boys and girls had equally high future expectations and classrooms in which boys have higher future expectations. Boys and girls were treated differently in these 2 classroom types. The data suggest that boys and girls have equivalent expectations when the relative distribution of praise and criticism within a class across highand low-teacher-expectancy groups is similar for both sexes.