Abstract—Reading literacy is a foundational skill that plays a crucial role in students' academic success and lifelong learning. Drawing data from 13,439 Indonesian students who participated in PISA 2022, this study examines how gender, emotional characteristics, and family support interact to influence students' reading performance. This study employed a quantitative research design using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the relationships between variables. This study found that all factors significantly predicted reading outcomes, with emotional characteristics, such as perseverance and self-control, being the strongest direct predictor (β = 0.258). Gender was also shown to have both direct (β = 0.125) and indirect (β = 0.036) effects on reading, as female students tended to receive more family support and demonstrate stronger emotional traits. Family support had a meaningful role in nurturing the emotional characteristics that enhance literacy, with a modest direct effect (β = 0.094) on reading performance. These findings underscore the importance of addressing not just cognitive skills but also emotional development and home environments in efforts to improve reading achievement. This study highlights the need for targeted, gender-sensitive educational interventions that integrate social-emotional learning and family engagement strategies within Indonesia's diverse educational landscape. 
 

Keywords—reading performance, gender difference, family support, emotional characteristics, PISA 2022 Indonesia 

Cite: Syaiful, "Measuring the Role of Gender, Emotional Characteristics, and Family Support in Students' Reading Performance: Evidence from PISA 2022 Indonesia," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 10-15, 2026.

Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).