Male students report significantly higher overall technological self-efficacy than female students (p = 0.001)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr1·q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? In the full sample, male students reported higher generalized digital confidence (M=4.05) than female students (M=3.89), a statistically significant difference (p=0.001). → Nicolas Rodriguez-Alvarez 2026
Evidence¶
Nicolas Rodriguez-Alvarez 2026¶
Nicolas Rodriguez-Alvarez, Alan Martin Blanch-Marsolini, Samuel Vara-Gutierrez, Hugo Gil-Garcia, Javier Calzon-Dueñas, and Fernando Rodriguez-Merino. (2026). The Illusion of Competence: Self-Perceived Digital Literacy and AI Readiness Among European Secondary Students. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.26010 doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.26010
q2 · i? · associational · r1
Independent samples t-test with Welch's correction on the survey's gender-based comparison (n=241 after excluding negligible non-binary responses) found males scored higher, a difference the authors call statistically significant.
"male students consistently reported higher generalized digital confidence (𝑀= 4.05) compared to their female counterparts (𝑀= 3.89). This difference was found to be statistically significant (𝑝= 0.001)."
Discussion¶
Learner Variables¶
- Gender — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause
Related Claims¶
- Girls show less confidence and interest in math and science from early adolescence, and a strong math/science self-concept predicts course choice and performance for both genders — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
- Secondary students report near-maximum confidence in passive digital tasks but sharply lower confidence in active creation and algorithmic logic — related
- The technological gender gap emerges only within Technology-oriented pathways, with parity in Arts and Sciences — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Gender effects on self-regulated learning are mediated by culture, discipline, and age, with mixed direction across samples — related
- Technology-pathway students report higher active-creation self-efficacy than Arts and Humanities students (p < 0.001) — related
- Both male and female students show statistically significant medium-sized gains in AI knowledge and confidence after a one-day AI literacy workshop — related
- The effects of thoughtless GenAI use on motivation, self-efficacy, and self-directed learning differ significantly by gender — related
- Student voices on GenAI and academic integrity are diverse, shaped by gender, academic level, discipline, psychological factors, and cultural context, though gender findings are inconsistent — related
- Gender differences in GenAI usage clusters are minimal, confined to a male-dominated Zero usage cluster — related
- Male faculty report modestly higher self-perceived GenAI knowledge than female faculty in TK and TPK, with small effect sizes — related
- LLM learners are younger, more likely male, and score higher on technology affinity than non-learners — related
- No statistically significant gender differences in perceived learning outcomes across any dimension among higher vocational students — related
- Female students reported significantly lower initial self-efficacy for quantitative biology problems than male students, with small effect sizes — related
- Gender disparities in CT education show a very small but statistically significant overall effect favoring males (g = 0.106) — related
- No gender differences in writing self-efficacy were found in any included postsecondary study — related
- Male Chinese HSS students reported higher perceived GenAI gains in independent thinking, creativity and motivation, with minimal gender difference in performance — related
- Pedagogical tool significantly moderates the CT gender gap, with programming and robots associated with male-favoring gaps and other tools (e.g., web-based) showing a negative significant effect — related
- Self-efficacy scores differ by cultural identification, while gender shows no significant effect — related
- Gender differences in AI perception scores appear only in the overall score and attitudes dimension, with males scoring higher — related
- The review reports that highly competent PALs increased learners' application of acquired knowledge while low-competent PALs increased self-efficacy — related
- Female student teachers score significantly higher on performance goal orientation than male students, with no gender differences on the other dimensions — reports the opposite
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
overall-gender-gap-technological-confidence |
title |
Male students report significantly higher overall technological self-efficacy than female students (p = 0.001) |
description |
Male students report significantly higher overall technological self-efficacy than female students (p = 0.001) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2026 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — nicolas-rodriguez-alvarez-2026 |
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