Abstract

Whether students from rural and urban schools perceive their own homework behaviors differently and whether rural-urban differences were moderated by gender was examined in 257 rural and 268 urban Chinese students. Three measures of students’ homework experiences in mathematics were used—perceived homework problems, perceived homework performance, and reasons for homework incompletion. Urban high school students in China perceived themselves as having more difficulties with the homework process and homework performance and rated higher on reasons for not completing homework than did rural students. Female Chinese students rated themselves more favorably than males regarding homework problems, although they rated similarly on their homework performance. Gender differences were also observed in their reported reasons for homework incompletion on items such as homework difficulty, lack of interest, and social relationships. The findings were discussed in the context of rural and urban culture and socio-cultural changes that Chinese society is experiencing.