Preprint: Top-Performing Math Students in 82 Countries: An Integrative Data Analysis of Gender Differences in Achievement, Achievement Profiles, and Achievement Motivation

Abstract

The present integrative data analysis examined gender differences in achievement, achievement profiles, and achievement motivation in mathematics, reading, and science among 115,481 top-performing adolescent math students (top 5% in their respective countries). To do this, we applied the same analysis protocol to representative individual participant data from six cycles of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2000–2015, 82 countries) and integrated the results by using meta-analytical random coefficient models. We found that in the group of top-performing math students, male students were overrepresented (female-to-male ratio 1:1.50). Furthermore, female students possessed better reading skills (d = –0.23) and more positive reading attitudes (–0.64 ≤ d ≤ –0.38). Male students had stronger math self-efficacy (d = 0.32) and demonstrated mathematics-oriented achievement profiles, whereas female students’ profiles were more balanced across domains. Moreover, female students were more interested in organic and medical fields (–0.44 ≤ d ≤ –0.30), whereas male students showed greater interest in physics-related topics (0.39 ≤ d ≤ 0.54). Gender equality indicators moderated the proportion of female students in the top 5% in mathematics and explained variability in achievement profiles across countries. Results are explained by social role theory and expectancy–value theory, and implications for women’s underrepresentation in (specific) STEM fields are discussed.