Gender Gap in College: Maximizing the Developmental Potential of Women and Men (review)

Using data collected over the past forty years by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the University of California, Los Angeles, Linda Sax provides a comprehensive book on gender and college students. The Gender Gap in College: Maximizing the Devel-op-mental Potential of Women and Men provides an overview of ways men and women react differently to college environments. The objectives of the book are to provide researchers, faculty, and higher education professionals guidance in further understanding and exploring gender by addressing three questions: "In what ways do men and women differ when they enter college? To what extent do gender differences expand or contract over four years of college? Do the experiences in college that influence student development differ between the sexes?" (Sax, 2008, p. 5). The research exposes hundreds of ways men and women react differently to similar environments in college.

As with most quantitative research, the book provides an overview of trends associated with gender, not an in-depth understanding of reasons why men and women respond differently to similar experiences. In addition, the singular focus on gender does not allow for exploration of ways college students' identities intersect to impact their experiences at college or make room for students who identify as transgender. For the purposes of Sax's study, first-time, full-time students who completed the CIRP in 1994 and the College Student Survey (CSS) at the same institution four years later were included, and the data represents an overrepresentation of high achieving, white, female college students.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the current debate about gender in higher education and discusses the intended audience for the book. Since 2000, the popular media has portrayed the gender gap in college attendance as a "boy crisis," when in reality, the gap is quite small. Sax discusses the ethical dilemmas in researching the gender gap. By discussing a very small gap, are we perpetuating the idea that the gender gap is significant, when in reality, differences among men and among women are more significant than between men and women? This study provides a context for understanding the gender gap and to provide researchers with a foundation for more in-depth research.

In chapter 2, Sax provides an overview of the ways men and women differ when entering college specifically in eight areas: demographic and financial background; family ties; academic self-confidence and engagement; leisure time; psychological and physical well-being; degree, major, and career aspirations; community orientation; and political and social attitudes. Significant gender differences exist when students enter college, and the purpose of this book is to understand how these differences are affected by students' experiences in college.

Sax provides a review of the literature on student development related to gender in chapter 3, highlighting the fact that a comprehensive study about the effects of college on students has never been completed. Student development theory has focused on men without identifying it as such (e.g. Kohlberg, 1975; Perry, 1970), followed by attempts to understand gender by researching only women (e.g. Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1987; Gilligan, 1982). Other research focusing on gender typically works to describe differences between men and women in college, rather than explore the environmental factors influencing those differences.

Chapter 4 provides a simplified version of the methodology utilized in this study, while an appendix provides a more detailed description of specific analytical approaches used. This study employed a conditional model based on the Input-Environment-Outcome model of understanding students' experiences (Astin, 1993). Sax seeks to explore ways men and women's experiences differ in college based on the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs that students bring with them, as well as how those inputs interact with the environments students are exposed to in college. Findings are presented when they are common for women and men, opposite for women or men, and unique to women or men.

Sax explores the effects of college on...