Parental education, home resources, gender, and academic achievement: a multilevel analysis of GCC and Asia–Pacific students in TIMSS 2023

Abstract Background Student achievement is shaped by family background, gender, migration status, and school context, yet little research has compared how these factors operate across distinct world regions. This study examines how parental education, educational resources, study supports, gender, and migration status predict Grade 8 mathematics and science achievement in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Asia–Pacific regions. Methods Using TIMSS 2023 data from twelve countries—six GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and six Asia–Pacific systems (Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore)—we estimated multilevel models separately for each country following a four-step specification. Models incorporated student gender, immigrant status, parental education, home educational resources, home study supports, and student-level interaction terms. Results Patterns differed across regions. In the GCC, girls consistently outperformed boys—especially in science—and immigrant students often outscored native-born peers., In Asia–Pacific countries, gender gaps were small and typically domain-specific, and immigrant performance varied. Parental education persisted as a robust predictor of higher achievement across all systems. Greater home educational resources were associated with higher achievement across countries, while study supports benefited students unevenly, with clearer advantages for girls in several GCC systems. Interaction effects indicated that students with both higher parental education and richer home resources experienced the largest achievement advantages. School-level variance was notably higher in GCC countries, reflecting greater stratification. Conclusions The findings highlight that gender, migration status, and family background do not operate uniformly but are shaped by regional opportunity structures and educational environments. GCC systems may benefit from reducing school-level disparities and strengthening supports for boys’ academic engagement, whereas Asia–Pacific systems may prioritize addressing family-level inequalities and immigrant integration. The study provides region-specific insights for promoting equity in diverse educational systems.