Seminal works on academic disidentification in USA, France and The Netherlands have treated the concept as a group response to stereotype threat, stigma and perceived discrimination of ethnic minority groups (Major et al., 1998; Regner & Loose, 2006; Schmader et al., 2001; Strambler & Weinstein, 2010; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2004).
Another group of studies have attempted to link students' gender and type of school to academic disidentification using ethnic minority samples from low socio-economic status (Cokley & Moore, 2007; Osborne, 1997). In Osborne's study, respondents' sex, race and socioeconomic status were the background variables in the nationwide study. Data for this study were drawn from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) with specific emphasis on African American, Hispanic and White participants in a two-stage process. Findings show that African American boys disidentified more than their female counterparts. Additionally, Hispanic girls remained the most strongly identified of any group.
Cokley and Moore (2007) used a sample of 274 college students attending a southern, historically Black college in Texas. Findings show that African American men were more likely to devalue academic success than women. One explanation given was that male Black youth derive respect, self-esteem and a sense of identity from non-academically oriented activities related to pop culture and athletics more than females. This is in line with Ogbu (2003) who cites "cool pose" as a plausible reason for Black males' heightened levels of disidentification.
Similar findings were reported by Osborne, Major and Crocker (1992) as cited in Osborne (2001). In that study, self-esteem and affect of Black college students was found to be less reactive to academic feedback than White students even when the feedback was presented as diagnostic of their academic
potential and ability. These findings and other findings from correlational research (Demo & Parker, 1987; Hansford & Hattie, 1982; Jordan, 1981; Lay & Wakstein, 1985; Rosenberg, 1972) as cited in Osborne (2001) all seem to indicate that Black male students are at a higher risk for academic disidentification.
Another perspective to the relationship between disidentification and gender has to do with differences in stereotype threat between male and female students. Studies show that in evaluative situations in mathematics, women contend with the evaluation plus the threatening possibility of confirming the cultural belief that they are inherently less competent than men are at mathematics (Lesko & Corpus, 2006). In their study of 121 undergraduates (68 women and 53 men), Lesko and Corpus found a main effect of gender on performance in the stereotype threat condition where women performed worse than men and in discounting among high-math identified women. This is more evident when women are evaluated among men (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000). In the first of two experiments among 72 female undergraduates at Brown University, Inzlicht and Ben-Zeev found out that women in the minority condition attained significantly less accurate scores on the mathematics test as opposed to the verbal test than did females in the same-sex condition. In the second experiment involving 92 male and female students, females in the minority condition scored significantly less accurately than females in the same-sex condition. Importantly, males in the minority condition did not score significantly less accurately than males in the same-sex condition.
Put together, these findings lead to three conclusions. First, females' mathematics performance decreased as the relative number of males in the room increased. Secondly, the presence of males in a group acted as a cue for negative gender stereotype concerning ability and finally, performance of males did not differ significantly whether they were in the minority or same- sex condition. Stereotype threat is thought to be elicited by explicit and implicit cues, such as statements about "typical" gender differences in academic performance. Studies further indicate that women disidentify via the path of self-handicapping, that is, purposely lowering their performance in order to protect their performance in case of failure (Keller, 2002; Smith, 2004, as cited in Lesko & Corpus, 2006).
Emerging literature seeks to explain the relationship between stereotype threat and academic disidentification in terms of paradigmatic trajectories. These are portrayed as "visible career paths provided by a community that shape how individuals negotiate and find meaning in their own experiences" (Hill & Vaughan, 2013, p. 548). According to this perspective, students are highly sensitive to these paradigmatic trajectories and need to know 'what counts' in order to access participation within a community. These trajectories impact on learning practices as students engage in activities that they strategically relate to success. Empirical support has been provided by Hill and Vaughan in a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews of 19 medical students from The University of Manchester, UK. Findings indicated that female students' experiences of surgery were strongly gendered because they were unable to see
or identify with other women in surgery. This explained the reason for fewer female students embarking on careers in surgery.
However, these findings concerning gender differences in academic disidentification contradict Steele (1992) who found no link between gender and academic disengagement of African Americans. Therefore, what remains unanswered is whether gender differences predict academic disidentification not only among ethnic minorities from disadvantaged backgrounds, but also in mainstream populations. The challenge of studying disidentification as a collective response of disadvantaged groups is that it limits the reliability of research findings since one individual is different from the other.
Although research has broadly focused on how societal influences such as prejudice and stereotypes might impact disidentification in minority groups, limited research exists concerning the role of school dynamics. Where students attend school shapes their attitudes towards education. Furthermore, the school environment encompasses many relationships which contribute significantly towards students' success. Student-teacher relationships including how teachers provide feedback and respond to students' emotional and academic needs influence the development of a classroom culture that can facilitate or hinder students' achievement motivation. In a study of 111 students in a high-poverty elementary school in Northern California, Strambler and Weinstein (2010) found out that students who perceived that their teachers gave them negative teacher feedback devalued academics more. The findings point to the
importance of student-teacher relationships in the link between how students perceive their immediate school context and disidentification.
Studies in Kenya have focused on consequences of disidentification in terms of truancy and school dropouts, indiscipline and poor academic outcomes. Of special interest for this study is the reality that many students erratically attend school in the Coast region. In a study of sex tourism that involved fieldwork carried out through 230 interviews, focus group discussions and 160 sex- worker diaries in four districts of Coast province, Kenya, Jones (2006) found out that between 10,000-15,000 girls living in coastal areas of Malindi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Diani aged between 12-18 years are involved in casual sex work. One important finding of the study was that "over 50% of the child sex workers are still attending school but would like to earn additional pocket money" (p. vii). The implication is that secondary school students are more likely to be involved due to disidentifying with school.
Using a random sample from the mainstream population, this study sought to investigate gender differences in discounting and devaluing and examine school contexts that are predictive of the two processes. It was therefore hypothesised that male students would devalue academic achievement more than female students and school environment would be negatively related to discounting and devaluing. In line with research, it was further hypothesised that female students in private schools (all co-educational) would have lower academic self-esteem and consequently, higher levels of disidentification.
2.4 Differences in Academic Self-esteem and Academic Disidentification