Sense of belonging

Sex differences

A slightly larger proportion of 15 year old females (10.6 percent) reported feeling awkward or out of place than 15 year old males (10.2 percent). 

Males (6.9 percent) were also slightly less likely than females (8.4 percent) to report feeling like an outsider or left out of things.

Proportion of 15 year olds who feel 'like an outsider' and/or 'awkward and out of place', 2003
    Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
Feel like
an outsider
Male 1.7% 5.2% 46.3% 46.8%
Female 1.8% 6.6% 44.4% 47.1%
Total 1.8% 5.9% 45.4% 47.0%
Feel awkward
and out of place
Male 1.7% 8.5% 51.7% 38.1%
Female 1.5% 9.0% 50.2% 39.2%
All 1.6% >8.8% 50.9% 38.6%

Source: PISA 2003, downloaded from www.pisa.oecd.org.  Missing responses have been excluded from denominator. 

Proportion of 15 year olds who feel ‘like an outsider’ and/or ‘awkward and out of place’, by sex, 2003

Proportion of 15 year olds who feel ‘like an outsider’ and/or ‘awkward and out of place’, by sex, 2003

Source: PISA 2003, downloaded from www.pisa.oecd.org.  Missing responses have been excluded from denominator.