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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11A 2026 study of 764,461 15-year-olds in 61 countries found that boys, on average, expressed less positive attitudes toward academic effort than girls. Those attitudes were associated with achievement—most strongly in reading—and national differences in effort attitudes tracked boys’ representation among low performers and in tertiary education. The evidence identifies a substantial contributing pattern, not a single proven cause.
What the 2026 cross-national study found
Published in PNAS Nexus, the analysis used PISA data from 2012 and 2018. Students responded to the statement “Trying hard at school is important.” Across the full sample, boys’ average level of agreement was 0.20 standard deviations lower than girls’. The gap appeared across the 61 participating countries rather than being confined to one education system.
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More positive effort attitudes were associated with higher achievement in reading, mathematics and science. The relationship was particularly strong for reading. At country level, larger boy–girl differences in effort attitudes were also related to the share of boys among low performers and to gender patterns in tertiary education. The study’s significance statement notes that “Boys are nowadays outperformed by girls in terms of academic achievement in most Western countries.” It concludes that “cultural and psychological factors may play a key role in shaping gender disparities in education.”
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Because the design is observational, it cannot establish that a lower regard for effort causes lower grades. Achievement may change students’ attitudes, both attitudes and achievement may be influenced by the same social conditions, and the direction may run both ways. The safest conclusion is that effort attitudes help explain part of the gap.
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Why attitudes toward effort can matter
Effort is not the same as ability. A student can have high ability but invest little time, or work hard while still needing better instruction or support. Attitudes influence whether students persist after an initial failure, complete homework, ask for help and continue with difficult reading or mathematics. Repeated choices of that kind can accumulate into differences in attainment.
Peer penalties and masculine norms
A possible mechanism is the social cost attached to being seen to care about school. An analysis of the U.S. High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, reported through ERIC in 2020, 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 findings do not show that every boy rejects effort, but they are consistent with a peer culture in which visible academic investment can conflict with some versions of masculinity.
Whether school feels useful
Perceived relevance is another pathway. In the OECD’s 2025 reporting of PISA results, girls across OECD countries were seven percentage points more likely than boys to say that school had taught them things useful for a job. A weaker sense of usefulness can reduce persistence, especially when assignments seem disconnected from future goals. This is a reported perception, not proof that curriculum relevance alone produces the achievement difference.
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Ability beliefs and adult support
Students also interpret difficulty through beliefs about ability. If struggling is treated as evidence of fixed inability, effort can look pointless; if skills are presented as developable, practice is more likely to continue. Parents’ expectations, teacher relationships, classroom norms and national gender stereotypes can reinforce either response. The PNAS analysis treats these as plausible, interacting explanations rather than a ranked list of proven causes.
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How disengagement can widen over time
Lower effort attitudes can feed a cycle. Avoiding practice can produce weaker results, and weak results can make future work feel less worthwhile. Missed work and negative classroom experiences may then contribute to absence, course failure and reduced access to advanced subjects.
The OECD describes low engagement with school work as linked to low achievement and as a predictor of early dropout, warning that lost participation wastes talent and hampers economic and social innovation. Its evidence also cautions that relationships such as homework and performance are correlational. Attendance, completion and post-secondary choices therefore belong in the explanation, but they should not be treated as outcomes caused by one attitude measure.
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What schools can do without stereotyping boys
The evidence supports changing environments that make effort costly or purposeless, not labelling boys as inherently unmotivated. A practical response can operate at several levels:
| Level | Action | What to monitor | Evidence caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student beliefs | Use brief, confidential surveys to identify views about effort, belonging, usefulness and help-seeking; teach concrete strategies for planning, revision and persistence. | Changes in effort, completed work and confidence, disaggregated by gender and subject. | Short-term attitude changes do not by themselves demonstrate higher achievement. |
| Peer culture | Make sustained effort visible and ordinary, celebrate improvement as well as high marks, and intervene when academic commitment is mocked. | Reports of ridicule, classroom participation and help-seeking. | Peer interventions need evaluation in the local context; norms differ across schools and countries. |
| Teaching and curriculum | Connect reading, mathematics and science tasks to credible interests and occupations while preserving demanding content; provide timely feedback and chances to retry. | Attendance, persistence on challenging tasks and subject attainment. | Perceived usefulness and achievement influence each other, so comparison groups or longitudinal tracking are important. |
| Family and school relationships | Set high, specific expectations; discuss routines and barriers with families; ensure boys and girls can access mentoring, counselling and academic support. | Course completion, disciplinary referrals and transitions into further study. | Support should respond to individual needs, not assume a gender-wide deficit. |
Schools should check whether a program improves reading, mathematics, science, attendance and completion rather than relying only on self-reported motivation. Where possible, repeated measurements and comparison groups can distinguish a durable effect from a temporary enthusiasm boost.
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The wider gender context
Boys’ educational disengagement is not evidence that girls face no barriers. UNESCO’s 2022 global review counted 132 million primary- and secondary-school-age boys out of school, while girls in many regions continue to face restrictions on safety, schooling, subject choice and progression. Gender gaps can therefore run in different directions at different stages and places.
Policies should expand equal opportunity rather than shift resources according to a simplistic “boys versus girls” contest. A reading intervention for boys in one country may be irrelevant to girls’ access to secondary school in another. Local attendance, attainment and progression data should determine priorities.
How to interpret the finding
- It is a recurring average, not a diagnosis. Many boys value school and work hard; many girls disengage. Individual variation is larger than any single group average.
- It concerns attitudes, not innate capacity. The study does not show a biological limit on boys’ achievement or a fixed difference in intelligence.
- It is associated evidence. The PNAS results support a contribution from effort attitudes, but longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to test how much changing those attitudes changes outcomes.
- Context matters. Peer norms, labour-market expectations, curriculum relevance, family support and gender inequality differ across the 61 countries.
The most defensible answer to “Why are girls doing better in school?” is therefore plural: in many settings, girls report more positive effort attitudes, while social expectations, perceived usefulness, ability beliefs and support structures shape how those attitudes translate into achievement. Addressing boys’ disengagement can improve boys’ learning, employment prospects, income and well-being, while also advancing the broader goal of gender equality.
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