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Sex-specific academic ability and attitude patterns in students across developed countries

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  • Stoet, Gijsbert
  • Geary, David C.

Abstract

The extent of sex differences in psychological traits is vigorously debated. We show that the overall sex difference in the pattern of adolescents' achievement and academic attitudes is relatively large and similar across countries. We used a binomial regression modeling approach to predict the sex of 15 and 16 year olds based on sets of academic ability and attitude variables in three cycles of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data (N = 969,673 across 55 to 71 countries and regions). We found that the sex of students in any country can be reliably predicted based on regression models created from the data of all other countries, indicating a common (universal) sex-specific component. Averaged over three different PISA cycles (2009, 2012, 2015), the sex of 69% of students can be correctly classified using this approach, corresponding to a large effect. Moreover, the universal component of these sex differences is stronger in countries with relative income equality and women's participation in the labor force and politics. We conclude that patterns in academic sex differences are larger than hitherto thought and appear to become stronger when societies have more socioeconomic equality. We explore reasons why this may be the case and possible implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Stoet, Gijsbert & Geary, David C., 2020. "Sex-specific academic ability and attitude patterns in students across developed countries," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:81:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300313
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2020.101453
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gijsbert Stoet & David C Geary, 2013. "Sex Differences in Mathematics and Reading Achievement Are Inversely Related: Within- and Across-Nation Assessment of 10 Years of PISA Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
    2. Falk, Armin & Hermle, Johannes, 2018. "Relationship of Gender Differences in Preferences to Economic Development and Gender Equality," IZA Discussion Papers 12059, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Marco Del Giudice & Tom Booth & Paul Irwing, 2012. "The Distance Between Mars and Venus: Measuring Global Sex Differences in Personality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, January.
    4. Martin Asperholm & Sanket Nagar & Serhiy Dekhtyar & Agneta Herlitz, 2019. "The magnitude of sex differences in verbal episodic memory increases with social progress: Data from 54 countries across 40 years," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-11, April.
    5. van der Linden, Dimitri & Dunkel, Curtis S. & Madison, Guy, 2017. "Sex differences in brain size and general intelligence (g)," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 78-88.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Reynolds, Matthew R. & Hajovsky, Daniel B. & Caemmerer, Jacqueline M., 2022. "The sexes do not differ in general intelligence, but they do in some specifics," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

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