Gender Differences in Academic Entitlement Among College Students

Researchers have labeled today's college students as perceiving themselves to be more entitled than ever before (J. M. Twenge, 2006). The results of the present study suggest that this may be true for college men, in particular, because they report significantly more academic entitlement than women do. In Study 1, the present authors used survey data from 1229 undergraduate students across 18 classes at a large midwestern university to examine whether entitlement beliefs vary among classes. Results indicate that men reported significantly more entitlement than women did, and that this relation did not vary among classes. In Study 2, the authors used survey data from 93 undergraduate students across 10 classes, before and after they completed a semester-long course, to examine whether entitlement beliefs are fostered in the college setting. The results suggest that men perceived themselves as more entitled in the classroom than women did and that this relation did not change over time. The authors also discuss the implications for entitlement research in the academic domain.