Gender differences in writing self-beliefs of elementary school students

The authors investigated the nature of gender differences in the writing self-beliefs of elementary school students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 (N = 363). Girls were judged superior writers, but there were no gender differences in writing self-efficacy after controlling for writing aptitude. However, girls expressed that they were better writers than were other boys or girls in their class or in their school to a greater degree than did boys. Only writing self-efficacy beliefs and aptitude predicted writing performance in a path model that included writing apprehension, self-efficacy for self-regulation, and perceived usefulness of writing. Self-efficacy mediated the effects of aptitude and self-efficacy for self-regulation on performance. Writing self-concept was higher and apprehension lower for students in Grade 3 than in Grade 5. Data were consistent with A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory and suggest that boys and girls may use a different metric when responding to traditional self-efficacy scales.