IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v94y2022ics0160289622000502.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differentiation of general and specific abilities in intelligence. A bifactor study of age and gender differentiation in 8- to 19-year-olds

Author

Listed:
  • Feraco, Tommaso
  • Cona, Giorgia

Abstract

The structure of intelligence is not static. Differentiation hypotheses suggest that the contribution of g and specific abilities on tasks performance varies with age, but most research focused solely on g. Here we sought to test intelligence differentiation in both its general and specific components using a bifactor modelling approach that – previously ignored in literature – should be better suited to this aim. In parallel, the possible differences in intelligence differentiation between males and females are explored for the first time. A population of 8866 youths (8–19 years old) of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopment Cohort completed 12 tasks measuring four components of cognition (complex cognition, executive control, episodic memory, and social cognition) and the WRAT-4. Using bootstrap and meta-regression analysis, the bifactor-(S·I - 1) model shows that the variance explained differently changes over time according to peculiar development patterns of specific components. Executive functions lose specificity with age and their variance is explained only by g at the end of adolescence, episodic memory is increasingly explained by g, and complex cognition is explained more by g in males – and less in females – when age increases, also suggesting a possible role of gender in intelligence differentiation. We conclude discussing the importance of using adequate statistical models and we proposed studying differentiation also at the level of specific abilities to account for the complexity of the developmental phenomenon that could be better described by development priority theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Feraco, Tommaso & Cona, Giorgia, 2022. "Differentiation of general and specific abilities in intelligence. A bifactor study of age and gender differentiation in 8- to 19-year-olds," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:94:y:2022:i:c:s0160289622000502
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2022.101669
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289622000502
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2022.101669?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giofrè, D. & Allen, K. & Toffalini, E. & Mammarella, I.C. & Caviola, S., 2022. "Decoding gender differences: Intellectual profiles of children with specific learning disabilities," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Giofrè, David & Pastore, Massimiliano & Cornoldi, Cesare & Toffalini, Enrico, 2019. "Lumpers vs. splitters: Intelligence in children with specific learning disorders," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Giofrè, D. & Cornoldi, C. & Martini, A. & Toffalini, E., 2020. "A population level analysis of the gender gap in mathematics: Results on over 13 million children using the INVALSI dataset," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Makris, Nikolaos & Tachmatzidis, Dimitrios & Demetriou, Andreas & Spanoudis, George, 2017. "Mapping the evolving core of intelligence: Changing relations between executive control, reasoning, language, and awareness," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 12-30.
    5. Blum, Diego & Holling, Heinz, 2017. "Spearman's law of diminishing returns. A meta-analysis," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 60-66.
    6. Viechtbauer, Wolfgang, 2010. "Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 36(i03).
    7. Coyle, Thomas R. & Greiff, Samuel, 2021. "The future of intelligence: The role of specific abilities," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Wilhelm, Oliver & Kyllonen, Patrick, 2021. "To predict the future, consider the past: Revisiting Carroll (1993) as a guide to the future of intelligence research," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Giofrè, David & Pastore, Massimiliano & Cornoldi, Cesare & Toffalini, Enrico, 2019. "Lumpers vs. splitters: Intelligence in children with specific learning disorders," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Molenaar, Dylan & Kő, Natasa & Rózsa, Sandor & Mészáros, Andrea, 2017. "Differentiation of cognitive abilities in the WAIS-IV at the item level," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 48-59.
    11. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    12. Laureys, Felien & De Waelle, Silke & Barendse, Maria T. & Lenoir, Matthieu & Deconinck, Frederik J.A., 2022. "The factor structure of executive function in childhood and adolescence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Demetriou, Andreas & Mougi, Antigoni & Spanoudis, George & Makris, Nicolaos, 2022. "Changing developmental priorities between executive functions, working memory, and reasoning in the formation of g from 6 to 12 years," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tommaso Feraco & Nicole Casali & Chiara Meneghetti & Samuel Greiff & Giorgia Cona, 2023. "Is Good Character All that Counts? A Comparison Between the Predictive Role of Specific Strengths and a General Factor of “Good Character” Using a Bifactor Model," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2353-2376, October.
    2. Kolachev, Nikita & Kovaleva, Galina, 2023. "General intelligence in middle school students from different Russian regions: Results of PISA-like tests," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Coyle, Thomas R. & Greiff, Samuel, 2023. "Carbon is to life as g is to _____: A review of the contributions to the special issue on specific abilities in intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giofrè, D. & Allen, K. & Toffalini, E. & Mammarella, I.C. & Caviola, S., 2022. "Decoding gender differences: Intellectual profiles of children with specific learning disabilities," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Coyle, Thomas R. & Greiff, Samuel, 2023. "Carbon is to life as g is to _____: A review of the contributions to the special issue on specific abilities in intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Cornoldi, Cesare & Giofrè, David & Toffalini, Enrico, 2023. "Cognitive characteristics of intellectually gifted children with a diagnosis of ADHD," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Verver, Hugo & van Zelst, Marino & Lucas, Gerardus Johannes Maria & Meeus, Marius, 2019. "Understanding Heterogeneity in the Performance Feedback – Organizational Responsiveness Relationship: A Meta-Analysis," OSF Preprints hq4uw, Center for Open Science.
    5. Woodley of Menie, Michael A. & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Mateo & Sarraf, Matthew A., 2022. "Signs of a Flynn effect in rodents? Secular differentiation of the manifold of general cognitive ability in laboratory mice (Mus musculus) and Norwegian rats (Rattus norvegicus) over a century—Results," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:6:p:1024-1036 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Procopio, Francesca & Zhou, Quan & Wang, Ziye & Gidziela, Agnieska & Rimfeld, Kaili & Malanchini, Margherita & Plomin, Robert, 2022. "The genetics of specific cognitive abilities," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Friederike Teetzen & Paul-Christian Bürkner & Sabine Gregersen & Sylvie Vincent-Höper, 2022. "The Mediating Effects of Work Characteristics on the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Employee Well-Being: A Meta-Analytic Investigation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-26, March.
    9. Haier, Richard J., 2021. "Are we thinking big enough about the road ahead? Overview of the special issue on the future of intelligence research," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Wai, Jonathan & Lakin, Joni M. & Kell, Harrison J., 2022. "Specific cognitive aptitudes and gifted samples," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    11. Leonidou, Leonidas C. & Eteokleous, Pantelitsa P. & Christofi, Anna-Maria & Korfiatis, Nikolaos, 2022. "Drivers, outcomes, and moderators of consumer intention to buy organic goods: Meta-analysis, implications, and future agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 339-354.
    12. David Dege & Philipp Brüggemann, 2024. "Marketing analytics with RStudio: a software review," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(2), pages 465-470, June.
    13. Walker, Dana L. & Palermo, Romina & Callis, Zoe & Gignac, Gilles E., 2023. "The association between intelligence and face processing abilities: A conceptual and meta-analytic review," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Joern Block & Christopher Hansen & Holger Steinmetz, 2023. "Are Family Firms Doing More Innovation Output With Less Innovation Input? A Replication and Extension," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1496-1520, July.
    15. Coyle, Thomas R., 2022. "Sex differences in spatial and mechanical tilt: Support for investment theories," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    16. Callis, Zoe & Gerrans, Paul & Walker, Dana L. & Gignac, Gilles E., 2023. "The association between intelligence and financial literacy: A conceptual and meta-analytic review," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    17. Jacob Lund Orquin & Jacob Dalgaard Christensen & Carl-Johan Lagerkvist, 2020. "A meta-analytical and experimental examination of blood glucose effects on decision making under risk," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(6), pages 1024-1036, November.
    18. Coyle, Thomas R., 2023. "Sex differences in tech tilt and academic tilt in adolescence: Processing speed mediates age-tilt relations," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    19. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    21. Bart Verkuil & Serpil Atasayi & Marc L Molendijk, 2015. "Workplace Bullying and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis on Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:94:y:2022:i:c:s0160289622000502. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.