Sex role identity and reading achievement in elementary school children

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of sex role identity and reading achievement for males and females in grade levels 2, 3, and 4 and the effect of sex and grade level on this relationship. The self-descriptive version of the Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSMII) and the Reading suhtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Test were administered to 161 subjects. The SSMII was factor analyzed to determine construct validity and Factor 2 was designated a feminine factor for the purpose of this study. Pearson Product Moment Correlations were determined for the femininity factor and reading achievement for each sex at each grade level. Correlation coefficients were transformed to Fisher's Zr scores and confidence intervals were constructed to determine if the correlation coefficient was significantly different from zero. The patterns of the confidence intervals determine if there were differences in the relationship due to sex and grade levels. The results of the analysis were: There was no significant correlation between sex role identity and reading achievement for males and females in grades 2, 3, and There was no significant effect of sex or grade level for the correlation between sex role identity and reading achievement. Related findings indicated that males in the sample for this study were not inferior in reading achievement to the females at each grade level. A general tendency for all subjects to describe themselves with feminine stereotypes more often than with masculine stereotypes was noted. Neither boys nor girls employed sex stereotypes in their self descriptions to as great a degree as was available to them.