Impact of Gender Stereotype on Secondary School Students’ Self-Concept and Academic Achievement

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of gender stereotype as a predictor of secondary school students’ self-concept and academic achievement. The study was guided by four purposes, four research questions, and four hypotheses. The study adopted ex post facto design. The research sample was drawn from eight government/public senior secondary schools in Udi education zone. Nine schools were randomly selected from the 227 schools. A total of 342 senior secondary II school (SSII) students made up the sample of the study. A 20-item students’ stereotype self-concept questionnaire (SSSCQ) was adapted from Marsh’s Self Descriptive Questionnaire II (SDQII), and a 10-item students’ mathematics achievement test (SMAT) was developed by the researchers after reviewing related literature. This was done with the help of experts in the areas. The instruments were face and content validated and used for the collection of data. In analyzing the data, mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions while a t test was used in testing the four hypotheses. The findings of the study indicate that gender stereotype has significant influence on students’ self-concept and academic achievement in favor of the male students. On the other hand, school location has significant influence on academic achievement of students but has no significant influence on students’ self-concept.