College hook-up culture sees female students graduate with low self-esteem - but young men are more self-assured than ever, says university study



Women leave college with lower levels of confidence than they do when entering, while the trend is reversed for men, a study reports.

Researchers from Boston College , Massachusetts, analyzed the results of identical surveys - one taken by students at freshman orientation and four years later before graduation.

They found female participants had 'worse self-understanding' in the second questionnaire despite high academic achievement while men, who had lower GPAs on average, appeared more self-assured.

Growing pains: Women leave college with lower levels of confidence than they do when entering as freshers while the trend is reversed for men, a study reports

Kelli Armstrong, vice president of planning and assessment at Boston College, who led the investigation, put the findings down to the pressures young women face 'beyond the classroom'.



Problems that were frequently cited by students as being harmful to one's self-esteem included the pressure to look a certain way, the 'hook-up culture', and the housing lottery.



'I think it became clear to us when we started having the conversations that it wasn’t just an academic thing, it was a cultural thing,' Ms Armstrong said.



However, some commentators have suggested that it is because of the gender discrimination faced by female students in the classroom.



Indeed, one woman wrote on Jezebel.com: 'I know for sure I left my senior year with less confidence, and less surety about my work and my direction in life.



'I like to think that some of it was gaining perspective (and also becoming a small fish in a big pond, as opposed to the opposite in high school), but I know some of it was definitely due to some of my classroom experiences - in particular, being creatively and emotionally broken down by my thesis teacher in junior year.'

'I was an engineering student and one of only a few women. If I made a mistake I was told " that's why women aren't good at engineering "'

And another woman suggests that the subject studied could affect confidence further.

'I was an engineering student and one of only a few women in my program. If I made a mistake it was magnified a thousand per cent and I was basically told 'that's why women aren't good at engineering'.



'It absolutely did break down my self-esteem when I saw the guys in my program make mistakes left and right and it was fine, but the minute I did anything wrong or asked a question I was representing ALL women.It's tough out there.'

Teaching staff at Boston College described the findings as 'surprising and concerning', in part because it did not seem to fit with their experience with students in the classroom.



Abbey Clark, a senior at Boston College and founder of the Boston College chapter of I Am That Girl, a female-empowerment organization, also described the results as 'startling.'