| Young men are far less likely to
attend university than young women, and a new study attributes the gap to
differences in academic performance and study habits at the age of 15, as
well as parental expectations.
Statistics
Canada
says about a quarter (26 per cent) of
19-year-old men had attended university in 2003 while almost two in five
(39 per cent) 19-year-old women had done so.
The study found that more than
three-quarters (77 per cent) of the gap was related to differences in the
characteristics of young men and women that were available in the study.
Weaker academic performance among men
accounted for almost half (45 per cent) of the gap – specifically, young
men had lower overall school marks at age 15, and had poorer performance
on a standardized reading test.
Another 11 per cent of the gap was related
to the fact that boys spend less time on their homework than girls and
about 9 per cent was associated with the lower educational expectations
placed upon boys by their parents.
Other student characteristics played
moderate roles, accounting for a further 12 per cent of the gap
collectively.
The study found that men and women have
different characteristics at age 15.
For example, only about a third (32 per
cent) of young men reported overall marks of 80 per cent or higher while
almost half (46 per cent) of young girls fell in the same category.
Young men also fared more poorly on a
standardized reading test: only 20 per cent scored in the top quarter on
the test, while 30 per cent of young women did so.
Young men and women are also quite different
in terms of the amount of time they spend on homework: only 30 per cent of
boys spent at least four hours a week on homework, compared with 41 per
cent of girls.
The study also found that young men had
lower expectations placed upon them: as many as 60 per cent had parents
who expected them to complete a university degree, well behind the 70 per
cent of young women in the same situation.
Factors such as motivation and preferences
were not taken into account in the study since they are difficult to
measure.
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