Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

To help explain female inferiority in mathematical performance, sex differences in personality correlates of mathematical ability were examined. Three instruments, Rotter's I-E Scale, Miller Adult Locus of Evaluation Scale, and Byrd's Attitude Concerning Life and Self were administered to measure four personality factors: locus of control, locus of evaluation, identity confusion associated with resolution of the adolescent identity crisis, and self-esteem. Each personality score was correlated separately by sex with Scholastic Aptitude Test mathematical and verbal scores. The sample included 68 females and 63 males, randomly selected from college-bound seniors in a predominantly white, middle-class, suburban high school, chosen to limit the effects of social, economic, racial and educational differences. Two variables were partialed out for control purposes: number of mathematics courses completed and IQ (Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test). For females only, internal locus of control and self-esteem were significant correlates of mathematical ability, and were seen as facilitators of female mathematical functioning in the face of environmental impediments to female mathematical performance.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anastasi

Commentary on the precocity project. In Stanley

J. C.

Keating

D. P.

Fox

L. H.

(Eds.), Mathematical talent: discovery, description, and development. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.

Ausubel

D. P.

Robinson

F. G.

School learning: An introduction to educational psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1969.

Byrd

R. C.

Identity confusion and related variables as factors in college dropout: an exploratory study with implications for counseling (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, 1971).

Dissertation Abstracts International, 1972, 32, 3615B–3616B (University Microfilms No. 72–1080)

Coleman

J. S.

Campbell

E. Q.

Hobson

C. J.

McPartland

Mood

A. M.

Weinfeld

F. D.

York

R. T.

Equality of educational opportunity. (Superintendent of Documents, Catalog No. FS 5.238: 38001) Washington, D. C.: United States Office of Education, 1966.

Erikson

E. H.

Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York: Norton, 1963.

Erikson

E. H.

Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton, 1968.

Fox

L. H.

Denham

S. A.

Values and career interests of mathematically and scientifically precocious youth. In Stanley

J. C.

Keating

D. P.

Fox

L. H.

(Eds.), Mathematical talent: Discovery, description, and development. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.

Garai

Scheinfeld

Sex differences in mental and behavioral traits.

Genetic Psychology Monographs, 1968, 77, 169–299

Gozali

Cleary

T. A.

Walster

G. W.

Gozali

Relationship between the internal-external control construct and achievement.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 64, 9–14

10.

Hilton

T. L.

Berglund

G. W.

Sex differences in mathematics achievement—a longitudinal study.

Journal of Educational Research, 1974, 67, 231–237

11.

Husen

(Ed.). International study of achievement in mathematics, a comparison of twelve countries. (Vol. 2). New York: Wiley,1967.

12.

Karas

S. F.

A study of personality and socioeconomic factors and mathematics achievement (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University, 1964).

Dissertation Abstracts, 1968, 28, 5191B–5192B. (University Microfilms No. 66–4515)

13.

Keller

C. M.

Sex differentiated attitudes toward mathematics and sex differentiated achievement in mathematics on the ninth grade level in eight schools in New Jersey (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, 1974).

Dissertation Abstracts International, 1974, 35, 3300A. (University Microfilms No. 74–27, 331)

14.

Maccoby

E. E.

Jacklin

C. N.

The psychology of sex differences. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974.

15.

Miller

J. O.

Role perception and reinforcement conditions in discrimination learning among culturally deprived and non-deprived children (Doctoral dissertation, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1963).

Dissertation Abstracts, 1964, 24, 5531–5532. (University Microfilms No. 64–5086)

16.

Oetzel

Annotated bibliography. In Maccoby

E. E.

(Ed.), The development of sex differences. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966.

17.

Osen

L. M.

Women in mathematics. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1974.

18.

Rosenberg

Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.

19.

Rotter

J. B.

Generalized expectancies for the internal versus external control of reinforcement.

Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80 (1, Whole No. 609)

20.

Weiss

D. S.

Haier

R. J.

Keating

D. P.

Personality characteristics of mathematically precocious boys. In Stanley

J. C.

Keating

D. P.

Fox

L. H.

(Eds.), Mathematical talent: discovery, description, and development. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.

21.

Whiteley

R. H.

Internal-external locus of control, subjective probability of success, decision consequence, and other selected variables as factors in pre-decision information acquisition (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1968).

Dissertation Abstracts International, 1970, 30, 2865A–2866A (University Microfilms No. 69–15, 024)

Sex Differences Among Personality Correlates of Mathematical Ability in High School Seniors

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References