Sex differences in spatial ability in children : its bearing on theories accounting for sex differences in spatial ability in adults

• Main Author: Siann, G.
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1978
• Subjects: 155
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.661889

This study concerns sex differences in spatial ability in children. Two projects in this area are presented and their results discussed in the context of theories attempting to account for sex differences in spatial ability in adults. In project one, seventy boys and seventy girls, aged from seven to eleven years, performed a battery of psychometric teats in individual test sessions. The teats had been selected on a two-fold basis. Firstly all had been reported in the literature as showing sex differences in favour of males, and secondly all had been regarded in these studies as measuring spatial ability. In project two, 88 boys and 102 girls, aged 12 to 16 years, performed a similar battery of spatial tests in a group session. In both projects subjects were also given a measure of general intelligence. Results indicated that many of the tests used measured mainly general intelligence. Sex differences, in favour of males, were only shown for children over 14. Girls' scores on the tests used were shown to intercorrelate less highly than boys' scores did. In addition, girls' scores on the spatial tests showed a less consistent increase with age, than boys' scores did. Relevant experience and motivation were shown to be associated with higher spatial scores. Theories attempting to account for sex differences in spatial ability in adults were reviewed in the context of these results and in the context of similar findings in the literature. It was concluded that to a large extent sex differences in spatial ability are social in origin. However the interactional effect of a possible difference in the hemispheric lateralisation of the sexes was not excluded.