Which gender is more likely to drop out of high school?

Asked by: Spencer King PhD  |  Last update: October 28, 2025
Score: 4.4/5 (41 votes)

Does the high school dropout rate vary by sex and race? A: Male and female high school youth have similar dropout rates, while dropout rates among racial and ethnic groups have greater variation.

Who is most likely to drop out of high school?

Students with disabilities (especially those with emotional/behavioral disabilities) are at greater risk of dropout. Parental employment. Dropouts are more likely to come from families in which the parents are unemployed.

Are males or females more likely to drop out of school?

Even though dropout rates are measured differently by different organizations, the reality is that students of color drop out at higher rates than Caucasian students; and girls consistently drop out at lower rates than boys.

Which gender is more successful in school?

Throughout high school and college, female students generally earn better grades than male students and are rated as having better competencies and skills. Better grades in high school lead women to be better prepared for college academics, and therefore more likely to enroll in and complete higher education degrees.

Are girls more likely than boys to drop out of high school?

This stereotype does not reflect reality. Girls and boys drop out of school at approximately the same rate. Further, although 40 percent of girls who drop out are pregnant or getting married, the majority of girls who drop out are not (WEEA, 1989).

Do I Regret Dropping Out of High School?

25 related questions found

What gender has the highest dropout rate?

College Dropout Rates by Gender

Data shows that students who had some college but failed to get a credential are 46.5% men and 44.5% women, with 9% missing (National Student Clearing House Research Center, 2024).

Which gender is less likely to go to college?

Men less likely to go to college directly after high school

In 2022, 57% of male high school graduates enrolled in college, compared to 66% of their female counterparts.

What gender is academically smarter?

There is no statistically significant difference between the average IQ scores of men and women. Average differences have been reported, however, on some tests of mathematics and verbal ability in certain contexts.

Which gender has a better life?

Women around the world report higher levels of life satisfaction than men, but at the same time report more daily stress.

Which gender is more motivated?

A series of studies using samples from different populations (students and employees), cross-sectional and lagged designs and three different self-report power motivation scales found that men consistently reported significantly higher power motivation than women, with medium effect sizes ranging from d = .

Which gender is more likely to graduate?

U.S. women are outpacing men in college completion, including in every major racial and ethnic group. Women between the ages of 25 and 34 continue to be more likely than men in the same age group to have a bachelor's degree.

What race has the highest dropout rate?

Dropout Rate by Race

In particular, American Indian/Alaska Native high school students have the highest high school dropout rate at 9.6% (NCES, 2021). This is much higher compared to the overall average dropout rate of 5.1% (NCES, 2021).

Who drops out of school the most?

Boys are much more likely to drop out than girls and dropouts are most likely from a family with a low socioeconomic status. There has been contention over the influence of ethnicity on dropout rates. However, it is clear that it does have some influence.

What happens to students who don't graduate?

A high school diploma is a standard requirement for most jobs — and for higher education opportunities. Not completing high school is linked to a variety of factors that can negatively impact health, including limited employment prospects, low wages, and poverty.

What state has the most dropouts?

At the forefront of states with the highest percentage of high school dropouts are California, Texas, and New York. California, despite being the most populous state, faces a significant educational hurdle with only 84.7% of residents aged 25 and over holding a high school diploma or higher.

Which gender is more rare?

The number of men and women in the world is roughly equal, though men hold a slight lead with 102 men for 100 women (in 2020). More precisely, out of 1,000 people, 504 are men (50.4%) and 496 are women (49.6%).

Which gender suffers the most in life?

The health differences between women and men continue to grow with age, leaving women with higher levels of illness and disability throughout their lives, as they tend to live longer than men.

Which gender is the healthiest?

However, when it comes to health, men are biologically weaker. Men are more likely to experience chronic health conditions earlier than women and have shorter lives. In almost all countries around the world, women live longer than men.

Which gender has a higher IQ?

Among adults, males have slightly higher verbal and reasoning abilities than females and a more pronounced superiority on spatial abilities. If the three abilities are combined to form general intelligence, the mean for males is 4 IQ points higher than the mean for females.

Which gender is more emotional?

Empirical findings regarding gender differences in emotion

In accordance with popular beliefs, there is some evidence that in the domain of emotional expression, women display more emotion than men (Brody, 1997). However, reports of emotion measured in other domains are less straightforward.

Which gender has better grades?

In standardized tests, girls tend to outperform boys in humanities, languages and reading skills, while boys tend to do better in math, but when grades are awarded by teachers, girls do better in all subjects.

Which gender is most competitive?

Research suggests that men are more competitive than women. This gender difference appears in childhood, as evidenced by the playtime activities that girls and boys choose, and increases through puberty and adulthood.

Which gender does best in school?

From elementary school through college, girls are more disciplined about their schoolwork than boys; they study harder and get better grades. Girls consistently outperform boys academically. And yet, men nonetheless hold a staggering 95 percent of the top positions in the largest public companies.

What do most girls major in?

Female-dominated majors tend to be concentrated in fields related to education, certain subsets of healthcare, and the social sciences.