IMPACT OF GENDER ORIENTATION ON ACHIEVEMENT BEHAVIOUR ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT OF IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN ENUGU STATE NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the impact of gender orientation on achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents. Nine research questions and nine hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was causal comparative ex-post facto design. The target populationwas 22,296 in-school adolescents, comprising 11,198 JSSII and

11,098 SSII in-school adolescents in Obollo-Afor and Nsukka Education Zones of Enugu State,

Nigeria.  The sample for this study consisted of 816 masculine and feminine (determined from their  scores  on  the  Gender  Orientation Scale-GOS)  in-school adolescents  randomly drawn through random sampling from 12 public secondary schools in Obollo Afor and Nsukka Education Zones in Enugu State, Nigeria. Three instruments namely: Gender Orientation Scale, Achievement Behaviour Questionnaire and Academic Self-Concept Scale were developed, validated and used for the study. The internal consistency reliability co-efficient of the instruments obtained through Cronbach alpha method were 0.87, 0.96, and 0.76 for Gender Orientation Scale, Achievement Behaviour Questionnaire and  Academic Self-Concept Scale respectively. The instruments were administered to the respondents through direct delivery, by the researcher and 3 research assistants.   Mean and Standard Deviation scores were used to answer  the  research  questions.  The  hypotheses  were  tested  at  0.05  probability  levelusing Analysis of Variance Statistic. Results showed that gender orientation significantly impacts on the achievement behaviour, academic self-concepts and school achievements of in-school adolescents. There were no significant interactions of gender orientation and school location on achievement   behaviour,   academic   self-concept   and   school   achievement   of   in-school adolescents.It was concluded that gender orientation significantly impacts on the achievement behaviour,academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents. Therefore, gender orientation is a critical factor that shape the level of achievement, aspiration and goals attained by in-school adolescents.Among the educational implications is included that gender orientation is a major determining factor in the learning process, the in-school adolescents would aspire higher and achieve their full potentials if their gender orientation is definitive. Based on the findings it was recommended that the school authorities, teachers and stakeholders in the education  sector  should  help  in  increasing  the  campaign  of  gender  sensitivity  in  the contemporary learning environments. By so doing, instructional designers and textbook writers might adopt gender sensitive illustrations in pictorial representations in the learning materials to minimize genderstereotypingin learning environments.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Much concern is being expressed over the continuous under-representation, under- enrolment and poor school achievement of the girl child, especially in Science and Technology disciplines which are often perceived as the domain for males. For instance, in Nigeria, at the secondary school level, evidences indicate that the enrolment of male students in the West African School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) for three consecutive years outnumber those of the females in most of the science and technology-based subjects, with the widest gap being in Auto Mechanic across the three years. It is only in Health Sciences that marginal differences are observed in favour of the females in the three years under consideration (WAEC,

2009, 2010, 2011). In Colleges of Education and Polytechnics, males outnumber the females in Science and Technology as their enrolment is 81% and 60% respectively in these programmes (Egunjobi, 2008). According to Federal Ministry of Education (2005) in the 1999-2000 session, there were zero enrolments for females in technical courses such as mechanical engineering, plumbing, fabrication and welding in Nigerian universities, while females constituted only 27% of those in science programmes in the universities.

According to Okeke (2000) the under-representation and under-achievement of females in the science and technology disciplines are historical and have been brought about by several inter-related socio-cultural and interacting school factors which act singly and jointly to depress female interest, enrolment, participation and achievement in science and technology disciplines

at  various  levels  of Nigerian education  system.  Such  socio-cultural factors  encompass the

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individual’s cognitive  variables  such  as  achievement  behaviour,  academic  self-concept  and gender orientation among others.

Gender refers to one’s subjective feeling of “maleness” and “femaleness” irrespective of one’s sex. It is generally classified into masculine and feminine and concerned with the attitude that describes males and females in the social and cultural context. It has to do with the peculiar responsibilities and roles of men and women that are established in the families, societies, and cultures.  According to Ezeh (2013) gender describes the personality traits, attitudes, behaviours, values, relative power, influence, roles and expectation (masculinity and femininity) that society ascribes to the two sexes on a differential basis. According to Hodges (2001) gender is an important part of development because any person’s ability to operate effectively in society in an active and constructive way depends greatly on his/her gender orientation- how one perceives oneself on a masculinity-femininity pole or continuum.

Gender orientation simply put, describes any individual’s tendency to play peculiar roles ascribed to one of the sexes; the type of aims or interests that one is inclined to pursue in relation to one’s sex in a given society and culture. In the view of Mueller and Dato-on (2004) gender orientation is a personal trait or attribute conditioned by a traditional social system in which women are expected to think and behave as women (feminine) and men as men (masculine). Within such a social system, some behaviours, roles, careers are stereotyped as masculine while others are stereotyped as feminine (William & Best, 1996). For instance, certain subjects, such as the sciences, Mathematics and other technical disciplines are tagged masculine, while Secretarial Studies and Home Economics are tagged feminine, thereby denying both sexes the opportunities to benefit from exposure to all subject areas or a wider choice of subjects.

There  seems  to  exist,  a  universal  dichotomy  in  the  adolescent  gender  orientation. Broadly, gender orientation may be classified into masculinity and femininity. According to Kent and Moses (2004) masculinity describes instrumental behavior which has a cognitive focus on getting the job done. These instrumental behaviors and attitude that are stereotyped as masculine include assertiveness, competitiveness, independence, and aggressiveness. Femininity describes the  affective  concern  for  the  welfare  of  others  and  the  harmony  of  the  group.  Affective behaviours and attitudes that are stereotyped as feminine include submissiveness, dependence, deference, co-operation, caring and nurturing (Spence & Helmreich, 2004).

Some researchers have attempted describing different patterns of gender orientation. Nzewi (2010) reported that child rearing practices in different parts of the world especially Nigeria, contribute to the values held by girls as to what they can do and what they are to be in life. Often one can hear parents using some adjectives to describe their children. These adjectives often disagree with their belief of the personality characteristics of their children. For example the words hard, strong, independent, daring among others may be used to describe a boy’s behaviour, while soft, fragile, dependent, fearful and weak qualify girls’ behaviour. According to Chinsman (1998) women are often oriented towards bearing a disproportionate burden of the workload in the household and related farm activities, especially in the rural areas of Nigeria. Not only do women and girls do all the fetching and carrying of water and firewood, as well as cooking, house cleaning, washing and caring for young children, but in the rural areas they also do much of the agricultural work. While land clearing and ploughing are principally male tasks, women do most of the planting, hoeing and weeding (Okojie, 1991).

Research efforts have found that traditional gender orientation in Nigeria tends to depress females’  interests  and  aspirations  (Aja-Okorie,  2002).  This  situation  might  lead  to  under-

representation of women in some well rewarding careers and occupations. In the labour market, women also have very limited employment opportunities than men, and tend to be concentrated in low-skilled, low income jobs. According to Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS,

1999) about half of women were currently employed and that, of these women, about 70% were self employed and 17% were employed by relatives. These figures illustrate the fact that women are mainly employed either in family agriculture or in informal sector, especially in trading.

There  are  ways  in  which  families  play  their  own  unique  and  significant  roles  in adolescent gender orientation. In the view of Ngwoke (2010) the pattern of child rearing and socialization in Nigeria seem to allow young adolescent boys more privileges than the adolescent girls. While boys and girls face sexual pressure, boys’ sexuality is affirmed while girls’ sexuality is denied. Ngwoke (2010) remarked that both boys and girls may have to work but while boys are expected to work outside the home, the girls are expected to work inside the home thereby restricting their experiences. Similarly, King (2000) reported that Nigerians tend to favour male dominance over feminine gender, leadingto gender stereotype. The society imposes gender roles and conditions- males to play and act within the confines of intellectuality and physically more challenging tasks like construction, molding, football, palm wine tapping and climbing while females on the other hand, are restricted to the kitchen and related domestic chores, including child rearing.

In some families, investing in girls’ education is regarded as investing for the benefit of the family she will eventually marry into, unlike in the case of boys. Baldscini (1996) reported that families have different educational demands for their sons and daughters after puberty; they tend to differentiate them in the sense to promote the autonomy of the males and the dependency of the females. This argument holds in particular for higher education which involves greater

expenditure and is seen to be less necessary for females whose main role will be home keeping and  child  raising  (Hodges,  2001).  In  general,  female  inferiority complex  established  from childhood through social interactions in the home, including the differential levels of support and motivation, influence the aspirations and eventual school learning achievement of boys and girls.

Studies  have  shown that  girls  are  unconsciously orientated  into  acquiring  feminine attributes. According to  Nzewi (2010) girls are  socialized into  conforming to the  feminine attributes (i.e. dependent, weak, emotional), since there is no evidence to show that one is born with these traits. Studies of girls have repeatedly shown that in early life, they develop a greater interest in other people and in what other people think of them than do boys. They also tend to be more conforming to what they perceive to be the social demands of the situation they are in.

It is pertinent to note, that every individual has a unique gender orientation. The individual’s gender orientation may be definitive, in which case  it  is easy to  perceive and categorize the individual as feminine or masculine. On the other hand, an individual’s gender orientation could be diffused, in which case it is not quite obvious whether to categorize the individual  as  masculine  or  feminine.  When  gender  orientation  is  diffused,  the  problems associated with gender role confusion manifest. When an individual is exposed to a balanced view of gender roles, expectation, perceptions and achievements, it predisposes such individual to a more varied aspiration and higher achievement behaviour in life but when the individual has a diffused gender orientation, it may result in low achievement behaviour, which may in turn affect the individual’s academic self-concept and school achievement. In this study, gender orientation  will  be  taken  to  mean  the  tendency  of  any  adolescent  to  exhibit  peculiar characteristics and roles which pertain to one of the sexes, in which case they either belong to femininity or masculinity.

Gender orientation is undoubtedly a crucial factor in achievement behaviour. According to Okeke (1990), girls who have been lucky to escape the routine child rearing practices grow up to be focused, independent, and have high achievement behaviour. However, many girls are trapped in inferiority complex especially in stereotyped domains. This, sometimes, affects their achievement behaviour.

Achievement is one of the desires of human nature. Therefore, achievement is regarded as a common goal of every adolescent. Achievement is central in educational process. It is one of the sole predictors of the extent of realization of educational objectives. Suin (2011) defined achievement as the outcome of what an individual has learned from some educational experiences. To  Isnian (2009), achievement  refers to  an  individual’s understanding of any educational activity. One of the primary objectives of the school system is to impart in the adolescents the right behaviour that engenders achievement.

Achievement behaviour refers to self determination and moves to succeed in whatever activities one engages in, be it academic work, professional work, sporting events, among others (Tella, 2007). To Sprinthall, Sprinthall and Oja (1994) achievement behavour is an intrinsic drive to achieve just for the sake of achieving rather than achievement in the service of some other motives.  According  to  the  authors,  the  most  important  single  ingredient  in  achievement behaviour is  a  feeling  of self-directed competence. In the  view of Jacquelyn (1990) one’s achievement behaviour is a function of one’s desire for success and fear of failure as well as one’s perceived probability of success and failure at the particular task and the incentive or pride associated with success at the task and shame associated with failure.

Generally, achievement behaviour seems to have some identifiable categories. According to Rehberg and Sinclair (2012) achievement behaviour could be either positive or negative. Individuals with positive achievement behaviour usually act in ways that will enable them to out- perform others, meeting or surpassing some standards of excellence or do something unusual (Schimdt & Frieze, 1997).On the other hand, individuals with negative achievement behaviour often times procrastinate and seldom take steps that lead to immediate positive feedbacks.

Socio-cultural factors  such as  gender  orientation also  contribute  to  the  variation  in achievement  behaviour.  Gestind  (2000)  reported  that  the  urge  to  achieve  varies  from one individual to another; while the need to achieve is very high in some individuals, it may be very low for others based on gender orientation and learning experiences. A person with positive achievement behaviour is a person whose desire for success is higher than his/her fear of failure. People with low achievement behaviour have the opposite pattern.

While the family has been identified as a significant factor in adolescent gender orientation, it also accounts for the variations inherent in their achievement behaviour. According to Rehberg and Sinclair (2012) the family is a source of variation in achievement behaviour and this is a theorem derivable from some of the postulates of behavioral sciences. Among the postulates are those which assert that the nuclear family is the fundamental institution of gender orientation and that gender orientation and socialization during the first decade of life probably have greater impact on achievement behaviour than that which occurs subsequent to the onset of the  second  decade.Some critical  factors  in  the  family  psychodynamics  interplay  to  impact significantly in the development of achievement behaviour. Ethothi (2002) found family factors that are determinants of achievement behaviour to include child rearing practices, social class, ethnic group, family values among others. For instance, children reared under an authoritarian

condition, according to the studies, develop negative achievement behaviour while children reared under democratic environment often develop high need for achievement. Study by Giota (2002) revealed that boys have higher immediate achievement behaviour than girls who tend to procrastinate more often. In this study, achievement behaviour will be taken to mean an individual’s constant drive to improve his/her level of performance, and to accomplish success in whatever  activity  he/she  engages  in.Some  adolescents  strive  to  explore  different  areas  of academic disciplines but do not possess the requisite level of achievement behaviour to drive them through in the face of challenges. This sometimes exposes them to low academic self- concept, especially when they are faced with failure experiences. In the view of Shavelson and Bolus (1992) adolescents’ need for achievement is closely linked to their self-concept.

Self-concept is a psychological construct used to describe how a person sees him/herself self. It is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual’s perception of “self” in relation to a number of characteristics, such as academics (Bonz & Clark, 1999; Byrne & Worht,

1996); gender orientation and sexuality (Hoffman, Rose & Hattie, 2005). Academic self concept refers to beliefs about one’s own abilities in academic domains (Kurtz- Costes, Rowley, Harris- Brith & Wood, 2008). Academic self-conceptis the personal belief someone develops about his/her academic abilities or skills (Trautwein, Ludtke, Nagy & Marsh, 2009). Academic self- concept can be defined as the way a student views his/her academic abilities when compared with other students (Cockley, 2000) and consists of attitudes, feelings, and perceptions about one’s academic skills (Leht, Brown & Gore, 1997). A person’s academic self concept develops and evolves as he/she ages. Research by Tiedmann (2000) suggests that academic self concept begins developing early in children from age three to five, due to parental, family and early educator’s influences. Other research findings contend that  academic self concept does not

develop until age seven to eight when children begin evaluating their own academic abilities based on the feedback they receive from parents, teachers and their peers (Leflot, Onghena & Colpin, 2010). According to Rubie-Davis (2006), by age ten or eleven, children view their academic abilities by comparing themselves to their peers.

Some socio-cultural factors have been identified to impact on adolescent’s academic self- concept. Early research inspired by the differences in self-concept across culture suggested that men are oriented to be more independent while women tend to be more interdependent (Cross & Laura,  1997).  Research  by  Tiedemann  (2000)  found  that  parents’  and  teachers’  gender stereotypes about children’s mathematics abilities influenced children’s self-concepts about their mathematics ability prior to having extensive math experiences in school. Gender stereotypes describe roles or a pattern of behaviour placed on a particular sex by the society, mostly beliefs, illogical ideas and false phrases (Begley, 2000). A study conducted by Ofoha (2012) revealed that gender stereotypes tend to affect girls’ academic self concept. Generally, students rate their own abilities in certain academic domains in a manner that is consistent with gender stereotypes: boys typically rate their abilities in mathematics and science higher than their verbal abilities and boys rate their mathematics ability higher than girls (Herbert & Stipek, 2005).

Furthermore, academic self-concept has been categorized into different levels. According to Baumert (2005) academic self-concept can be high or low. It is assumed that every human being has a way he/she perceiveshim/herself in relation to academic ability. When an individual is equipped with a definitive gender orientation, it may predispose the individual to a higher academic self concept but when an individual has a diffused gender orientation, it may result in low academic self concept and poor school achievement. In this study, academic self-concept

will be taken to mean a student’s self perception of his/her academic ability formed through individual experiences and interactions with the environment.

Achievement in school is central in educational process. It is one of the sole predictors of the  extent  of the  realization  of  school objectives.  Identifying  ways  of  maximizing  school achievement is one of the primary concerns of parents, teachers and educational researchers (Sansgry, 2008).  School achievement  describes something  one  does or  achieves at  school, college or university, in class, in a laboratory and field work (Suinn, 2011).

School achievement is commonly measured by examinations. School achievement is a mark of success for both students and teachers. In recent times, there has been a decline in the achievement of females, especially in science and technology-related disciplines. In the West African School Certificate (WAEC) results in Nigeria, males outperform the females in most science  and the related subjects.  WAEC (2009, 2010, 2011), for  instance, show that  male students consistently outperformed the females in subjects like Further mathematics, Chemistry, Auto Mechanic, Technical drawing, wood work, metal work and general mathematics while the females only outperformed the males in Health Science. It is possible that this poor achievement of adolescents, especially the females in these subjects in school may be related to their gender orientation. It has been said that gender orientation shapes aspirations and school achievement. Consequently, the  increased  low  academic  self-concept and  the  female  inferiority complex caused by stereotypic gender orientation and the differential levels of support and motivation may influence the aspirations and eventual school achievement of boys and girls. As a result of this, females who perceive their academic abilities as low may find it difficult to take up subjects that are tagged masculine and may perform poorly in such school activities. Craven (1991) found that parents and teachers need to provide adolescents with specific feedback that focuses on their

particular skills or expressed abilities in order to increase their academic self-concept. Since school achievement and academic self concept are considered correlates, it is possible also that school achievement, achievement behaviour and academic self-concept of in-school adolescents may be influenced by their gender orientation. In this study, school achievement will mean the overall  accomplishments  and   performance  of  a   student   in   school-based  tasks.   School achievement shows the extent to which the learner has achieved mastery of the learning content. It is often measured by tests and examinations. However, it seems that there is no known study on the impact of gender orientation on achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in- school adolescents. This therefore arouses the researchers’ interest to carry- out this study.

Furthermore,  recent  researchers  are  increasingly  focusing  on  the  impact  of  school location on school achievement of urban and rural learners. Adolescents’ academic self-concept and achievement behaviour according to some researchers are influenced by some variables like school location and age. In the view of Enukora(1995) socio-cultural and geographic variables such as  location and  gender orientation also  affect  academic self-concept and  achievement behaviour. Location refers to where a people or person resides in the world (Burgeson, Fulton & Spain, 2006).The government and indeed educational researchers have made progress in closing the gap between urban and rural schools. In spite of that, a wider gap in achievement and school enrolment in urban and rural locations still persist (Sam, Joshua & Asim, 2013).This may be attributable to differential provision of key school related amenities in urban and rural schools- such as electricity, access to internet facilities for educational resources and others. It is therefore pertinent to examine school location as a moderating variable in this research.

Also, in recent times, the adolescent period has been identified as a period that poses a great challenge to both teachers and parents especially those at schooling age. Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychologicalhuman development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood. According to Larson and Wilson (2004) adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the  preparation of children  for  adult  roles.  It  is  a  period of multiple transitions  involving schooling, skills training, employment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another (Coleman & Roker, 2008). In-school adolescents refer to adolescents who are still in the secondary school. The age range of early adolescence is 12-14 years while the average age is 13 years. For middle adolescence, the age ranges from 15-17 years while the average age is 16 years. The age range for late adolescence ranges from 18-20. Gender orientation patterns may vary across the stages of adolescence and in turn may account for the differential levels of achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents. It  is therefore, of paramount importance to also examine class and/or age of the  in-school adolescents as a moderating variable in this research.

Statement of the Problem

Moving into adulthood, the girl-child faces a series of specific developmental problems, mainly of a social and economic character, deeply rooted in cultural attitudes regarding the respective roles of the genders. Historically, women’s self-advancement has been curtailed by the burden of reproduction, particularly heavy in societies like Nigeria with very high fertility rates, as well as by associated cultural views about the basic “role” of the woman being that of child-bearer, child-raiser and home-maker, with little reasons to entertain wider aspirations.

Many studies focusing on the factors that affect adolescents’ aspirations tend to center on the adolescents’ personal characteristics. Adolescents’ aspirations and life choices have been associated with many factors, and these factors have been addressed from different dimensions. Some of these dimensions, according to some researchers include individual differences, stratifications, teacher factor, teaching strategies, and school climate as well as peer influences. The  poor representation and  under  achievement  of girls  in  some academic disciplines and employment areas in recent time have been suggested to have a link to achievement behaviour and academic self concepts of the adolescents. In a bid to solve this problem of imbalance, many researchers have investigated the factors that influence the adolescent choice and school achievement. However, lesser attention has been given to some other cognitive variables that influence  adolescents’  aspirations,  life  choices  and  life  chances,  achievement  behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement. Many studies were also done on gender and not gender orientation. The majority of these studies used gender as moderating or intervening variables not as independent variable. It is also notclearhow gender orientation impact on other critical cognitive variables such as achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents.

The problem of this study put in a question form therefore is: what is the impact of gender orientation on achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents?

Purpose of the Study

The  purpose  of  this  study  was  to  determine  the  impact  of  gender  orientation  on achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement of in-school adolescents.

Specifically, the study ascertained the impact of gender orientation on the:

1   mean achievement behaviour scores of in-school adolescents

2   mean achievement behaviour scores of JSSII and SSII In- school adolescents.

3   mean academic self-concept scores of in- school adolescents.

4   mean academic self-concept scores of JSSII and SSII In- school adolescents

5   mean school achievement scores of in-school adolescents.

6   mean school achievement scores of JSSII and SSII In-school adolescents.

7    mean achievement behaviour scores of In-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable.

8    mean academic self-concept scores of In-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable.

9    meanschool achievement  scores  of  In-school adolescents  with  school  location  as  a moderating variable.

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is derived from its potential in contributing to theory building in the area of gender-based research. Research emphasis on gender theories is gradually shifting from perceiving the    individual’s gender on the  basis of their  sex to  an unbiased perception of the individual based on the innate ability inherent in every individual (Irigary,

2011). This suggests that the more researchers understand the subjective gender components of individuals, the greater the chances would be of eliminating gender biases and stereotypes in learning environments. One would expect that a better understanding of gender components of individuals may provide important clues about the arrays of potential innate abilities which predispose the individuals to foray into wider aspirations. Theoretically, the findings of the study may extend or question some of the propositions of some psychological theories that have explained differentials  in  life  choices,  life  chances and  life  accomplishments of males  and females purely on sex-based capacity differences.

This study when published in academic journals or disseminated through conferences and workshops is also expected to contribute in shaping, based on empirical evidence, how career counseling may be better managed and carried out to boost the aspirations and overall achievement of the adolescents irrespective of sex.

The publication of the findings in academic journals or disseminated through conferences and workshops might also help in planning how governments incorporate the needs and aspirations of the  adolescents  irrespective of their  sexes  in  school programmes and  career opportunities, based on empirical findings.

The timely publication of the findings of the studyin academic journals or even during conferences and workshops might also be useful in gender equity, as it will eliminate the impact of gender biases in perceptions of roles, self-worth and accomplishments among young persons, especially in a gendered social system like Nigeria.

When findings of the study is published in academic journals or disseminated through conferences  and  workshops  it  might  contribute  to  increasing,  in  a  general  sense,  gender sensitivity in the school system when the results of the study are made available to trainee teachers, practicing teachers and educators.

Also, the results of the study when made public throughpublication in academic journals or dissemination through conferences and workshops might be used to educate instructional designers and textbook writers on how best to adopt a high gender sensitive level in their pictorial representations in learning materials.

Finally, when the results of the studyis published in academic journals or disseminated through conferences and workshops might expose the adolescents and their parents to how best to orient and harness their adolescents’ potentials to attain maximum functional life-skills.

Scope of the Study

The study covered Enugu State, Nigeria. Adolescent boys and girls in secondary schools in Enugu state participated in the study. Participants in the study were senior secondary school class II and junior secondary class II students in both rural and urban secondary schools in Enugu state.

The independent variable of the study is gender orientation. The dependent variables are achievement behaviour, academic self-concept and school achievement while school location and age/class of adolescents serve as a moderating variable.

The content scope of this study covers the gender orientation- masculinity and femininity which is obtainable in the study area. The impact of these dimensions of gender orientation were investigated on adolescents with both positive and negative achievement behaviour, high and low academic self-concept and school achievement.

Research Questions

For the purpose of this research the following research questions were formulated:

1.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of in-school adolescents?

2.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of

JSSII and SSII in-school adolescents?

3.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self-concepts scores of in-school adolescents?

4.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self-concepts scores of

JSSII and SSII in-school adolescents?

5.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of in- school adolescents?

6.      What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of

JSSII and SSII in-school adolescents?

7.    What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of in-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable?

8.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self concepts scores of in- school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable?

9.  What is the impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of in- school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 probability level.

HO1:   The impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of in-school adolescents is not significant.

HO2 The impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of JSSII and

SSII in-school adolescents is not significant

HO3:  The impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self-concept scores in-school adolescents is not significant.

HO4:The impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self-concept scores of JSSII and

SSII in-school adolescents is not significant.

HO5:  The impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of in-school adolescents is not significant.

HO6: The impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of JSSII and SSII

in-school adolescents is not significant.

HO7:   The impact of gender orientation on the mean achievement behaviour scores of in-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable is not significant.

HO8:   The impact of gender orientation on the mean academic self-concept scores of in-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable is not significant.

HO9:  The impact of gender orientation on the mean school achievement scores of in-school adolescents with school location as a moderating variable is not significant.

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