Date of Award
6-2010
Document Type
Union College Only
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
David Cotter
Language
English
Keywords
secondary education, socialization, sexual education, sociology
Abstract
This thesis explores the social effects of attending a single-sex high school. After researching past literature on the subject, it became evident that there are, in fact, academic consequences of attending either a single-sex or co-educational school. However, I wanted to observe social aspects such as single-sex dependency, relationships, sexual partners, and confidence around members of the opposite sex. I hypothesized that there would be diverse social repercussions of attending either a single-sex or co-educational school. After using a convenience and snowball sample, I collected questionnaires from 80 Union College respondents who answered questions about their involvement in single-sex organizations on campus, their longest relationship, their number of sexual partners, their number of plutonic friends of the opposite sex, and their confidence around members of the opposite sex. 17 respondents had attended a single-sex high school, 62 respondents had attended a co-educational high school, and 1 respondent had attended both a single-sex and co-educational high school. My results illustrated that more single-sex respondents were involved in a single-sex organization, more co-educational respondents had been in longer relationships, single-sex students had less plutonic friends of the opposite sex and more sexual partners, and single-sex respondents were generally more confident around members of the opposite sex. This data suggests that there are diverse social effects among college students who attended a single-sex or co-educational high school.
Recommended Citation
Levy, Allison R., "The social effects of a single-sex high school education" (2010). Honors Theses. 1169.
https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/1169