Do Gender Differences in Help Avoidance Vary by Ethnicity? An Examination of African American and European American Students During Early Adolescence

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 1152 - 1163
• Main Authors: Ryan, Allison M, Shim, S. Serena, Lampkins-uThando, Shawn A, Kiefer, Sarah M, Thompson, Geneene N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-07-2009
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Achievement; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; African American Students; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Attention; Avoidance; Avoidance Learning; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Black People; Child; Child development; Classrooms; Communication; Cultural Differences; Developmental psychology; Early Adolescence; Early Adolescents; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender; Gender Differences; Gender Identity; Help Seeking Behavior; Helping Behavior; Helpseeking; Human; Human Sex Differences; Humans; Individuation; Learner Engagement; Longitudinal Studies; Low Achievement; Male; Middle School Students; Middle Schools; Motivation; Prediction; Psychology; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Racial and Ethnic Differences; Sex Role; Socioeconomic Factors; Student Adjustment; Student participation; Students; Teacher Student Relationship; White Students; Youth; United States; North America; America; United States > US; voice; early adolescence; help seeking; gender; ethnicity; Human; Help seeking; Sex; Student; Ethnic group; Preadolescent; Caucasoid; Voice; Avoidance; African American
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/a0013916

The present research examined whether the nature of gender differences varies by race for two types of academic engagement in the classroom (help avoidance and voice with the teacher) in a sample of early adolescents (
N
= 456; 55% female, 60% African American and 40% European American) making the transition to middle school. Growth curve analyses indicated that help avoidance increased over time, voice remained stable, and achievement declined. In line with hypotheses based on cultural variations in the female role, there were no gender differences in help avoidance for African American students, whereas for European American students, girls were lower in help avoidance than were boys. For African American students, there were no gender differences in voice with the teacher, whereas for European American students, girls were higher than were boys. These group differences were present at all 3 waves. For all students, increases in help avoidance negatively predicted changes in achievement, whereas increases in voice positively predicted achievement. Results underscore the importance of examining gender and ethnicity together to understand academic adjustment during early adolescence.