Do girls perform better than boys in school? A meta-analysis of sex differences in academic help seeking behaviours

Sex differences in academic behaviours have long been a concern for adolescent developmental researches. Evidences con-cerning sex differences in academic seeking help (AHS) behaviours are inconsistent. This paper aims to use meta-analysis to determine whether there is sex difference in AHS behaviours. After extensive retrieval and rigorous inclusion criteria, a total of 47 qualifying studies in the last two decades are identified (covering 27,149 students from grade school through to college). Several findings are standing out. Firstly, the effect size of sex differences in AHS behaviours is - 0.107 ( p = 0.048), indicating that school girls are more active and more adaptive in AHS behaviours than school boys. When further dividing AHS behaviours into different forms, the statistically significant sex differences are mainly embodied in instrumental HS, and no statistically significant sex differences are observed in executive HS. Secondly, the sex gap is narrowing with the increase of grade levels, but an abnormal rebound is observed in high school stage. Thirdly, there are statistically significant sex differences in instrumental HS for Asian students and executive HS for North American students. Last but not least, the sex gap reported in papers published in Chinese is smaller than that in English. These findings help to reveal the basic mechanism of sex differences in AHS behaviours and provide a basis for the development of effective AHS strategies.