Cohort trends for school subject-specific self-concepts and interests for girls and boys

Cohort trends for school subject-specific self-concepts and interests for girls and boys Abstract. Academic self-concepts and interests are among the most important motivational constructs in educational psychology. Gender differences in these constructs are in accordance with prevailing stereotypes: Whereas boys typically report higher self-concepts and interests in mathematics and science, girls show higher self-concepts and interests in verbal subjects. So far, the few studies examining temporal changes in these variables between student cohorts indicate a decline in Germany. A recent study showed that this decline in student motivation might be more pronounced for boys, particularly in mathematics and science. Although motivational constructs and academic achievement are related, differences in academic achievement between cohorts have not been explored as a possible explanation for cohort trends in self-concepts and interests. Therefore, we examined (a) if cohort trends in students' school subject-specific motivation vary by gender and especially (b) if potential (gender-specific) cohort trends in student motivation can be explained by cohort trends in students' academic achievements (test performance, grades). To do so, we analyzed data of the IQB national assessment studies of student achievement with approx. 25,000 ninth-grade students in 2012 and 2018 (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology) and with approx. 35,000 ninth-grade students in 2009 and 2015 (German), respectively. Comparing cohorts, girls' self-concepts and interests in mathematics and science did not vary substantially or were marginally higher for the second measurement point (-0.05 ><= d ><= 0.07). For boys, however, we found significant declines in self-concepts and interests (-0.31 ><= d ><= -0.08). The decline in boys' interest in mathematics was substantial (d = -0.31). For the subject German, self-concepts increased slightly for girls (d = 0.07) and boys (d = 0.06). In all examined subjects, these gender-specific trends in motivation remained widely stable after accounting for academic achievement differences between cohorts. The results are discussed in terms of various explanations for (gender-specific) trends in student motivation.