Gender differences in undergraduate attendance rates

Abstract

Research on students’ attendance rates has focused mainly on the effects of personality variables and cognitive ability, rather than on the impact on degree outcomes. More specifically, there is scant information relating to the question of whether male and female undergraduate students have differential practices in relation to attendance, whether any such differences are significant or not in terms of eventual outcomes for undergraduates, and on why such differences might occur. The results of two studies conducted at the University of Sussex are presented and discussed in this article. The importance of attendance in determining final degree outcome is confirmed in these studies; indeed the rate at which a student attends emerges as the strongest predictor of degree outcome amongst a number of variables examined. The existence of differential attendance rates between male and female students is also confirmed. The results provide a context within which a range of possible underlying reasons for gender differences in this regard can be explored.

Acknowledgements

The research upon which this article is based was supported financially by the British Academy and the University of Sussex Teaching and Learning Development Fund (Study 1), and by a ‘Younger Researcher Award’ prize awarded to Ruth Woodfield from the Society for Research in Higher Education (Study 2).