Gender and Education: Differences and Similarities in the Trajectories of Young Men and Women

The preliminary results of a longitudinal study, which has surveyed the same individuals at 13, 17 and 21 years old, indicate that there are convergences and divergences in the practices and attitudes of young women and men. Young women do better in school but, at the age of 13, they also report more depressive symptoms. On the other hand, at the age of 17 and 21, the trajectories of youngsters of both sexes are reshaped showing differentiations in some respects and similarities in others. Accordingly, young women’s initial educational advantages may not have promising effects, culminating, sometimes, in early interruptions or corresponding, afterwards, to precarious experiences in the labour market.

Drawing on a theoretical framework which combines an intersectional gender approach with sociology of education, this presentation seeks to explain youngsters’ trajectories and the differences and similarities found. In order to do so, we will analyze the ways in which the trajectories of young people are influenced by factors, such as social background and class, parenting styles, networks of sociability, leisure-time, subjective well-being and physical and mental health, body image and risk behaviours. These relationships will be analyzed with descriptive and multivariate analysis.

EPITeen, the study on which this presentation is based, was launched in 2003-2004 by the Institute of Public Health of the University of Oporto (ISPUP) and collects data from individuals who were born in 1990, in a total of 2 943 research participants. When the study began, respondents were 13 years old and attended the public and private schools in Oporto, which is the second largest city in Portugal. With the collaboration of the Institute for Social and Political Science of the University of Lisbon (ISCSP), a new wave will be carried out in 2014 when the youngsters will be at the age of 24.