Social influences, school motivation and gender differences: an application of the expectancy‐value theory

The present study examined the structural relations of social influences, task values, ability beliefs, educational expectation and academic engagement for both boys and girls. The structural equation modelling analyses provided nationally representative evidence of gender differences in: (1) the links from teacher–student relationship and peer friends’ academic value to student task values; and (2) the relations of student values and educational expectation with student academic engagement. Despite the detected gender differences, similar findings across gender groups were also noted. In addition, results from the Multiple Indicator Multiple Cause analyses demonstrated the existence of latent factor mean non‐invariance between boys and girls on multiple school motivational factors and social influences.