Motivation of men and women in mathematics and language

Based on the multiple goal perspective it is argued that mastery and performance goals contribute to different motivational variables—mastery goals to self-efficacy and performance goals to social comparison—that contribute through affect to achievement. The first aim of this study was to determine whether this model is applicable irrespective of sex and subject. The expected relationships occurred for female students studying Dutch and mathematics, and for male students studying Dutch. The second aim was to test a model in which the perceived gender appropriateness of the subject affects the pursued achievement goal. We expected that subjects perceived as gender-appropriate—Dutch for female and mathematics for male students—would result in strong relationships between mastery goals, self-efficacy, affect, and achievement, and that less gender-appropriate subjects—mathematics for women and Dutch for men—would result in strong relationships between performance goals, social comparison, affect, and achievement. Several of the expected relationships occurred for female and males students studying Dutch and mathematics. Furthermore, female students obtained higher course grades in Dutch than male students, while male students studying mathematics scored higher on self-efficacy and affect than female students.