Gender-Typed Behaviors and School Adjustment

This study investigates whether gender-typed behaviors are associated with two aspects of school adjustment—engagement and attachment. The analysis uses a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in US schools in 1995 (n = 6,349 girls and 5,954 boys). Ordinary least square models show that both boys and girls with extremely gender-typed behaviors report lower levels of school engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, consistent with previous research that documented adjustment problems linked to hypergender. Among boys but not among girls, gender-atypical students report lower levels of engagement and attachment than gender-typical peers, indicating stigma attached to boys’ feminine behaviors at school. Interpersonal problems with peers and teachers explain large portions of these group differences.