Gender differences in school are often discussed in reference to a particular type of masculinity, negative masculinity, which is often conceptualized as detrimental to success. Another type of masculinity, instrumentality, has rarely been studied in schools even though instrumental characteristics are often exalted outside the academic context. The current study focuses on potential benefits that students may reap from instrumentality. The extent to which an instrumental self-concept is directly and indirectly associated with achievement motivation and self-esteem was examined for adolescent boys and girls in a structural equation model (SEM). A sample of German ninth graders (N = 355) completed self-report measures pertaining to their gender role self-concept, hope for success, fear of failure, and global and academic contingent self-esteem. The SEM revealed that instrumentality was associated with lower fear of failure and higher hope for success for both male and female adolescents. High scores in instrumentality were associated with greater self-esteem and lower academic contingent self-esteem. The association between instrumentality and global self-esteem was stronger for adolescent girls, and the indirect association between instrumentality and fear of failure through global self-esteem was significant only for girls. Results indicate that instrumentality can be an asset for students and that female students especially reap the benefits of an instrumental self-concept. The results are discussed in reference to the dangers of emphasizing solely the association between negative masculinity and academic failure, and the importance of studying relations with gender role self-concept separately for male and female adolescents.

学校中的性别差异经常被讨论为一种特定类型的男子气概，即消极男子气概，这通常被概念化为不利于成功。另一种类型的男子气概，工具性，很少在学校研究，尽管工具性特征经常在学术背景之外得到提升。目前的研究侧重于学生可能从工具中获得的潜在好处。在结构方程模型 (SEM) 中检查了青春期男孩和女孩的工具性自我概念与成就动机和自尊直接和间接相关的程度。德国九年级学生样本（N = 355) 完成了与性别角色自我概念、成功希望、失败恐惧以及全球和学术自尊相关的自我报告测量。SEM 显示，工具性与男性和女性青少年对失败的较低恐惧和较高的成功希望有关。工具性的高分与更高的自尊和更低的学业或然自尊相关。工具性与全球自尊之间的关联在青春期女孩中更强，而工具性与通过全球自尊对失败的恐惧之间的间接关联仅对女孩显着。结果表明，工具性可以成为学生的资产，而女学生尤其能从工具性自我概念中获益。