Sex Differences on the German Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children (WISC-IV)

Abstract

This study investigates cognitive sex differences in child and adolescent intelligence as measured by the WISC-IV (German edition; Petermann & Petermann, 2007 ). It was hypothesized that there would be no differences attributable to sex in Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), but on various composite score levels. Sex effects were expected to be more pronounced during/after puberty than before. Method: The standardization sample of the German WISC-IV (N = 1650) was used to assess and evaluate sex differences in test performance across defined age groups (6–9, 10–12, and 13–16 years). Results: At all ages, there were no gender effects in the Full-Scale IQ, but gender effects favoring boys in the Verbal Comprehension Index (t = 3.94, p < .001, d = .19) and Perceptual Reasoning Index (t = 2.69, p = .007, d = .13). In the Processing Speed Index, girls scored higher than boys (t = 6.75, p < .001, d = .33). No significant sex-by-age interaction effect was found using ANOVA, but various 1-df contrasts showed substantial sex differences at specific ages. Conclusions: Results are discussed in the context of the specific constructs measured by the WISC-IV, taking into account recent findings in neurobiological and developmental psychology.

Intelligence and working memory control: Evidence from the WISC-IV administration to Italian children

“…The four indexes, although correlated, were also partly independent. The importance of the WMI, and the associated hypothesis concerning a specific WM factor, is also supported by research on the French (Lecerf, Reverte, Coleaux, Favez, & Rossier, 2010) and Spanish (San Miguel Montes, Allen, Puente, & Neblina, 2010) adaptations of the WISC-IV, and indirectly by the German adaptation, which shows that WM factor produces different effects than the other factors when gender differences are considered (Goldbeck, Daseking, Hellwig-Brida, Waldmann, & Petermann, 2010).…”

Measurement Invariance Across Gender on the Second-Order Five-Factor Model of the German Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fifth Edition

“…Such differences can be a result of the critical subtests measuring different narrow abilities than the other subtests loading on the same latent variable. Previous literature on gender differences in a variety of cognitive abilities already discussed the roles of gender-specific modality preferences, psychosocial and biological factors, strategies in information processing, and genetic effects (Daseking, Petermann, & Waldmann, 2017; Goldbeck, Daseking, Hellwig-Brida, Waldmann, & Petermann, 2010; Lepach, Reimers, Pauls, Petermann, & Daseking, 2015; Lynn, 1994; Pauls, Petermann, & Lepach, 2013a). Following the recommendations by Byrne, Shavelson, and Muthén (1989) that full scalar invariance is not an indispensable prerequisite for further tests of invariance, subsequent invariance analyses could be conducted based on the partial scalar invariance model.…”

Test for Identification of Signs of Dyslexia: effects of developmental variables

“…However, it is not yet possible to find a pattern in the findings. Some research indicates superior results presented for males in both types of language (Flores-Mendoza et al, 2013;Goldbeck, Daseking, Hellwig-Brida, Waldman, & Petermann, 2010), but others suggest the opposite, for female superiority in these same skills (Lundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012;Wallentin, 2009). There are also those investigations that indicate no significant differences between these two groups (Hyde, 2014;Wechsler et al, 2014;Zell, Krizan, & Teeter, 2015).…”