Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
A 2026 study of more than 764,000 15-year-olds across 61 countries found that boys, on average, were less likely than girls to say that trying hard at school is important. Those attitudes were associated with academic achievement, particularly in reading, and country-level differences tracked some gaps in educational outcomes. The study points to one possible contributor to the academic gender gap—not a single cause, and not a description of every boy.
What the cross-national study found
Published in PNAS Nexus in 2026, the analysis used responses from PISA 2012 and 2018. Students were asked whether they agreed that “Trying hard at school is important.” Across the full sample of 764,461 students in 61 countries, boys’ positive attitudes toward effort were lower than girls’ by an average of 0.20 standard deviations.
The researchers also found that more positive attitudes toward academic effort were associated with higher achievement. The relationship was especially strong for reading. At the country level, gaps in effort attitudes were related to boys’ representation among low performers and in tertiary education. These are patterns across groups, not proof that effort attitudes determine an individual student’s results or future.
Why attitudes toward effort could matter
Attitudes can shape whether a student persists when work is difficult, asks for help, completes assignments, or sees a setback as a reason to try a different strategy. Those choices can affect how much a student learns. The relationship can also run in both directions: difficulty or repeated low results may make school seem less worthwhile, while stronger engagement can create more opportunities to build skills and confidence.
#1 Best Overall
The 2026 study is observational. It identifies associations, but cannot establish that lower regard for effort causes boys’ lower achievement, or that changing attitudes alone would close an academic gap. Achievement also reflects instruction, prior learning, resources, relationships, and circumstances outside school. The findings are not evidence of an innate difference in ability.
What might discourage boys from trying?
The study’s findings are consistent with several possible explanations, which can operate together and vary among students and communities:
- Peer reactions and social costs: A 2020 analysis of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, reported through ERIC, found that male students were 1.75 times as likely as female students to say that trying hard would make them unpopular, and 1.50 times as likely to say it would invite ridicule. Those responses suggest that, for some students, visibly caring about school may carry a perceived social risk.
- Ideas about masculinity: Peer norms or gender stereotypes may frame academic effort as uncool or inconsistent with a masculine identity. This is a plausible mechanism, not a universal account of boys’ behavior; the available findings do not show that all boys share the same norms or that masculinity alone explains the results.
- Beliefs about ability: Students who think success depends on fixed ability rather than learning and practice may be less willing to persist after difficulty. The cross-national association makes effort attitudes relevant to investigate, but does not establish how much this mechanism contributes.
- Perceived usefulness: In OECD countries, girls were 7 percentage points more likely than boys to say that school had taught them things useful for a job, according to OECD reporting on 2025 PISA results. If students do not see a connection between schoolwork and goals they value, motivation may weaken.
Disengagement is not only an achievement issue
School engagement is connected to attendance and whether students stay on an educational pathway. OECD materials describe low engagement as linked to lower achievement and a risk of early dropout; they also caution that relationships between factors such as homework and performance are correlational. A student’s disengagement can therefore be a warning sign, but it is not by itself an explanation of why that student is struggling.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallCrashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe scale of educational disadvantage also depends on where children live and which barriers they face. UNESCO reported in 2022 that 132 million primary- and secondary-school-age boys were out of school worldwide. At the same time, girls continue to face serious barriers to education in many settings. A case for addressing boys’ disengagement is not a case for shifting attention or resources away from girls; equal access and support matter for both.
Rank #3
What schools and families can do
The evidence supports paying attention to students’ beliefs and school experiences, but it does not establish one proven intervention that will close the gender gap. Practical responses should fit the local problem and should be evaluated for their effects rather than assumed to work because they target boys.
- Ask what is getting in the way. Use student conversations or surveys to distinguish peer pressure, low confidence, difficulty with the material, poor relationships, and doubts about school’s usefulness. Do not treat a group average as a diagnosis of an individual.
- Make effort safe and visible. Teachers can recognize persistence, help-seeking, revision, and improvement—not only top marks—while setting classroom norms that do not reward ridicule of students who care about learning.
- Connect learning to meaningful goals. Explain how skills apply to students’ interests, further study, and work. The OECD finding on perceived job usefulness makes this a reasonable area to explore, but does not prove that career links alone improve outcomes.
- Pair encouragement with academic support. If a student is disengaging because work feels inaccessible, motivation messages are unlikely to substitute for appropriate teaching, timely feedback, and help with learning gaps.
- Check outcomes and fairness. Track attendance, persistence, learning, and participation, and check whether a response reaches students who need it without reinforcing stereotypes or neglecting girls’ needs.
How to read the headline
The study offers evidence that boys’ average attitudes toward academic effort differ from girls’ and that those attitudes are associated with achievement across countries. Social pressure, beliefs about ability, and doubts about school’s usefulness are plausible pieces of the explanation. Because the analysis is observational, it supports the careful wording “may help explain”: it does not prove that boys care less because of one cause, or that effort attitudes alone account for academic differences.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #4
- Used Book in Good Condition
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
