Gender differences in the early mathematics skills in six countries in the Asia Pacific

Abstract

The gender gap in mathematics and science achievement is a matter of societal concern and a number of explanations have been put forward to explain the gap including genetic factors, early cognitive socialization, and contextual and cultural factors. This study examined gender differences in the early maths skills in 3- to 5-year-olds from diverse contexts in the East Asia Pacific using data from the validation sample of the East-Asia Pacific-Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS). Representative samples of children from six countries (Cambodia: n=1197, China: n=1511, Mongolia: n=1228, Papua New Guinea: n=1323, Timor: n=1070 and Vanuatu: n=296) including 3334 girls (3yrs: n=1074, M=41.71 months, SD=3.30; 4yrs: n=1121, M=53.68 months, SD=3.39; 5yrs: n=1139; M=65.24 months, SD=3.31) and 3291 boys (3yrs: n=1073, M=41.83 months, SD=3.38; 4yrs: n=1094, M=53.69 months, SD=3.40; 5yrs: n=1124, M=65.17 months, SD=3.35) were assessed in individual sessions (rote counting, counting objects, Give-N objects, simple addition and subtraction). All testing was conducted in children’s first languages. Regression indicated that older children performed significantly better than younger children (β=0.22, t (6322) =55.77, p <0.001) and were more likely to get more difficult items correct (Table 1) after controlling for age, SES, preschool attendance, urbanicity and country. Girls and boys performed equally well in rote counting, counting objects, Give-N objects and simple addition except that boys did significantly better than girls in subtraction (β= 0.054, t(6322) = 2.77, p = 0.006; see Figure 1). The results indicate that there is no clear evidence of a gender gap in the early numeracy. This provides less support to the statement that gender differences in their later mathematical performance are due to early cognitive differences. While reasons for the gender differences in subtraction need to be explored in further studies and could possibly be due to different experiences of boys and girls in preschools.