WASHINGTON TIMES
July 26, 1999
STUDY FINDS SPORTS GIVE GIRLS CONFIDENCE TO TACKLE SCIENCE
Andrea Billups
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Girls who participate in sports, particularly in the eighth and 10th grades, do better in science, making them more likely to enter traditionally male-dominated professions like engineering and medicine, a study has found.
"The ability to compete, independence, self-esteem - the tremendous benefits reaped from sports participation - are the same traits women need to succeed in science," says sociologist Sandra Hanson of Catholic University, who co-wrote the report.
The study, financed by a grant from the National Science Foundation, found boys do no better in math and science than their male classmates who don't compete in sports, researchers said. And cheerleading, a popular and athletic activity for many teens, actually has a negative effect on girls' achievement in science.
"Cheerleading is a sideshow to a male activity, and it doesn't foster self-esteem in the same way as competitive sports," Miss Hanson said.
Miss Hanson and her former student Rebecca Krauss, a doctoral graduate at the university, analyzed data collected by the Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics from 26,200 eighth- through 12th-grade students around the country. The researchers looked at students' attitudes toward math and science, the courses they took and what they said about future jobs. Then, they analyzed data from standardized test scores taken in each year of high school along with the grades the students received in math and science.
"In all areas, the girls who had exposure to sport and participated in sport were more likely to think math and science were something they could do well in, and they were more likely to take those courses and do well in them," Miss Hanson said.
Sports give young girls the confidence to persevere in science, she added, especially in the eighth and 10th grades, a time when many teen-agers often experience a dip in self-esteem as pressure mounts to be popular, look nice and fit in.
"The support they receive in sports activities, the willingness to hang in there through something tough, that's the same thing that gets them into a physics or calculus class," Miss Hanson said.
Girls have made inroads in high school sports over the past 25 years.