A Longitudinal Study of Academic Identification Among African American Males and Females

Disidentification hypothesis researchers have proposed that African American students start school academically identified; however, over time, African American boys tend to disidentify while girls tend to remain identified. This is the first report to follow up a disidentification study of a group of children first examined during elementary school. The current study aimed to determine whether gender differences in discounting, devaluing, and full-blown disidentification had developed among these 94 African Americans by midadolescence. Multiple regression analyses revealed no gender differences in either discounting or full-blown disidentification; however, the evidence indicated that girls valued academics more than boys.