Gender Differences in Elementary School Discipline

1. Gender Differences in Elementary School Discipline Jenny Drake & Sarah Kamplain

2. Past Research • A good deal of anecdotal evidence suggests that boys and girls have different experiences in the classroom (Sadker & Sadker, 1995).

5. Past Research • The empirical evidence suggests that gender differences may be small (Eccles, 1992) and that both teachers and students contribute to these differences (Altermatt et al., 1998).

6. Research Questions • Do boys and girls engage in different amounts and types of misbehavior? • Will teachers use different strategies when disciplining boys and girls?

7. We examined inductive and correcting discipline strategies. • Inductive discipline: explaining why misbehaviors are inappropriate • Correctingdiscipline: telling the student to behave correctly, inflicting a punishment, etc. • We predict that teachers will use inductive discipline more with girls and correcting more with boys.

8. Research Questions • Do boys and girls engage in different amounts and types of misbehavior? • Will teachers use different strategies when disciplining boys and girls? • Do boys and girls respond differently to discipline? • We predict that boys are more likely to cease their misbehavior after receiving correcting discipline, and girls after receiving inductive discipline.

9. Procedure • We videotaped 8 hours of classroom interaction. • Videotapes were made in two 5th grade classrooms at a private Catholic school. • Girls: N=13, Boys: N=21 • We coded instances of student misbehavior, teacher discipline, and the result of the discipline (N=58).

10. Coding Sheet

11. Reliability • We coded 2 hours of data together, then coded 3 hours separately in order to calculate and establish inter-rater reliability. • After inter-rater reliability was achieved, we coded the remainder of the data together.

12. Questionnaires • BDIC: Beliefs on Discipline Inventory for Children (Wolfgang & Glickman, 1997). • Assessed type of discipline preferred by students: inductive or correcting.

13. Example Question • If I interrupt my teacher by talking to a neighbor: • A. I should be moved away from others so that I don’t waste any more class time. • B. I would like the teacher to tell me when I become disruptive and remind me of how it would make me feel if someone interrupted me.

14. Instances of Misbehavior Girls: N=13 z = .873, ns Boys: N=21

15. Types of Misbehavior BA – Being Away (X2 = .42, p = .52) DIS – Disruptive (X2 = .07, p = .79) SI – Side Involvement (X2 = .83, p = .36)

16. Type of Discipline

17. Effectiveness of Discipline

18. Questionnaire Results

19. Discussion • The current study’s results support a growing literature suggesting that boys and girls behave – and are treated – much more similarly than differently. • Although there was little inductive discipline implemented, it seems that it would be a more effective means of disciplining students. In fact, students prefer inductive discipline.

20. Implications for Future Research • Do students perceive themselves as being treated differently than one another based on gender? • Has the anecdotal evidence hypersensitized teachers to treating boys and girls similarly?

21. Implications for Future Research • Why do teachers tend to choose the correcting approach to discipline when students may, in fact, prefer inductive discipline? • Suggestion: Teachers use correcting discipline to maintain order and flow of classroom environment. • Are there differences in short versus long-term effectiveness when using one type of discipline or another?