Gender Differences in School Engagement In African American Adolescents (2008)

Undergraduate: Sasha Huggins

Faculty Advisor: Beth Kurtz-Costes
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Differences in school experiences, classroom engagement, and social networks and support systems were investigated in African-American high-school boys and girls who were previously part of a longitudinal, quantitative study of the transition to middle school for African-American adolescents. Employing qualitative methods the current study explored the schooling experiences of African-American students and their engagement in literary and extracurricular activities. Differences in schooling experience across engagement behaviors and gender were not found, though engagement levels did vary. Future studies should more closely explore differences in engagement practices as well as the origin of those differences.