Students who attended single-sex schools feel more anxious and stressed when participating in mixed-gender activities at university, according to a study.

The research, based on an analysis of students at a co-educational college in Hong Kong, has led to suggestions that universities should introduce specific support for learners who attended all-male or all-female schools.

The study, based on an analysis of 456 students at a co-educational college in Hong Kong who attended both single-sex and co-educational schools, used a questionnaire to assess anxiety in mixed-gender situations and also considered how many friends from the opposite gender the participants had.

Compared with those who attended co-educational schools, students who went to a single-sex school reported feeling more anxiety and stress in mixed-gender situations, researchers from the University of Hong Kong found. They also had fewer friends of the opposite sex.

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Co-author Ivy Wong, an assistant professor of psychology at Hong Kong, said that higher levels of gender anxiety had the potential to disrupt a student¡¯s learning.

¡°Classes are rarely gender-segregated in college, and many courses require students to form study groups in which students will have to cooperate with other-gender peers in order to optimise their learning outcomes,¡± she said.

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Mixed-gender anxiety might reduce students¡¯ interest and motivation in pursuing future study or a career in areas dominated by the other gender, such as women in science or men in nursing, Dr Wong said.

¡°The findings highlight the need to pay more attention to how gender segregation relates to social outcomes and not only academic outcomes,¡± said Dr Wong, who argued that, aside from fostering academic skills, education should also prepare students for a mixed-gender society.

There are many considerations as to why a student would attend either type of school, ¡°but it may be beneficial for single-sex schools to increase students¡¯ exposure to mixed-gender interactions or offer more social skills training¡±, Dr Wong said. ¡°Some of the differences may be transient, while some may persist beyond high school, so interventions for graduates would also be meaningful.¡±

Dr Wong added that the Hong Kong findings, published in , were likely to be?¡°highly applicable¡± to the rest of the world.

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anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com