The influence of spatial ability on gender differences in mathematics college entrance test scores across diverse samples.

The relationship between mental rotation ability and gender differences in Scholastic Aptitude Test-Math (SAT-M) across diverse samples was investigated. Talented preadolescents, college students and high- and low-ability college-bound youths, totaling 760, were administered the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test. Gender comparisons showed male outperforming female students in both mental rotation and SAT-M for all 3 high-ability groups but not for the low-ability group. For all female samples, mental rotation predicted math aptitude even when SAT-Verbal was entered first into the regression. For male samples, the relationship varied as a function of sample. When mental rotation ability was statistically adjusted for, the significant gender difference in SAT-M was eliminated for the college sample and the high-ability college-bound students. This suggests that spatial ability may be responsible in part for mediating gender differences in math aptitude among these groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Math = male, me = female, therefore math ≠ me.

College students, especially women, demonstrated negativity toward math and science relative to arts and language on implicit measures. Group membership (being female), group identity (self = female), and gender stereotypes (math = male) were related to attitudes and identification with mathematics. Stronger implicit math = male stereotypes corresponded with more negative implicit and explicit math attitudes for women but more positive attitudes for men. Associating the self with female and math with male made it difficult for women, even women who had selected math-intensive majors, to associate math with the self. These results point to the opportunities and constraints on personal preferences that derive from membership in social groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of high academic achievement in mathematics and science by mathematically talented students: A longitudinal study.

Educational experiences of a cohort of 1,247 mathematically talented youths (initially identified in 7th/8th grade by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth) were analyzed after high school and after college to identify factors correlated with high and low academic achievement in math and science in college by students with extremely high ability. Almost all students had achieved highly by conventional standards (e.g., 85% had received bachelor's degrees). Using a quantitative definition of academic achievement in college, we found that 22% were high academic achievers and 8% were low academic achievers in math and science. Variables predictive of high academic achievement (in order of strength) were precollege curricula or experiences in math and sciences, family characteristics and educational support variables, attitudes toward math and science, and differences in aptitude. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explaining gender differences on SAT-math items.

Used a cognitive process approach to explain gender differences on the math subtest of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This approach specifies that gender differences exist because male students may carry out certain cognitive operations (e.g., knowledge access, strategy assembly) more effectively than female students. High school students were given SAT items and measures of their prior knowledge and strategies. Results showed that male students performed better than female students on the SAT items. Regression analyses, however, showed that whereas prior knowledge and strategies explained nearly 50% of the variance in SAT scores, gender explained no unique variance. These findings suggest that it is not one's gender that matters as much as one's prior knowledge and strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of gender differences in mathematics college entrance test scores: A comparison of spatial skills with internalized beliefs and anxieties.

This study was designed to investigate whether spatial skill, math anxiety, and math self-confidence functioned as mediators of a significant gender difference in the Mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-M) among the top third of a college-bound sample. Using path analytic techniques, the decomposition of the significant gender—SAT-M correlation into direct and indirect effects indicated that there were no direct effects of gender on SAT-M. Mental rotation and math self-confidence showed indirect effects, mediating the gender—SAT-M relationship; math anxiety did not. Of these indirect effects, 36% was mediated by math self-confidence; 64% by mental rotation. For both these variables, most of the mediational effects of the gender—SAT-M relationship did not occur by way of the causal pathway leading through geometry grades. Thus, the mediational effects cannot simply be attributed to the presence of geometry items on the SAT-M or to math self-confidence acquired during prior geometry coursework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in counselors' attitudes toward and attributions about incest.

Examined the extent to which offender's and victim's gender as well as counselor gender were related to 111 (67 female and 44 male) counselors' attributions about and attitudes toward cases of incest. Participants read case notes from an intake session, answered treatment questions, and completed the Jackson Incest Blame Scale, the Incest Attitudes Survey, and the Sex-Role Ideology Scale. Results indicated no significant differences as a function of either victim or offender gender. Female counselors, however, had broader definitions of incest than did male counselors and were less likely to view incest claims as fantasy. Overall, counselors avoided victim blaming; however, their gender-role attitudes/ideology were significantly correlated with victim blaming and other attitudes about incest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic achievement in mathematics and science of students between ages 13 and 23: Are there differences among students in the top one percent of mathematical ability?

Investigated the predictive validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Mathematics subtest (SAT-M) for 1,996 mathematically gifted (top 1%) 7th and 8th graders. Various academic achievement criteria were assessed over a 10-yr span. Individual differences in SAT-M scores obtained in junior high school predicted accomplishments in high school and college. Among students in the top 1% of ability, those with SAT-M scores in the top quarter, in comparison with those in the bottom quarter, achieved at much higher levels through high school, college, and graduate school. Of the 37 variables studied, 34 showed significant differences favoring the high SAT-M group which were substantial. Some gender differences emerged; these tended to be smaller than the ability group differences; they were not observed in the relationship between mathematical ability and academic achievement. The predictive validity of the SAT-M for high-ability 7th and 8th graders was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing the selection of university majors varying in mathematical content.

53 male and 58 female undergraduates completed an arithmetic test and a questionnaire on their mathematics background, perceived skill, interest, and affect toward math. Most women avoided majors that required even moderate amounts of math, even though they were as skilled at arithmetic as males and had taken equivalent amounts of math in high school. Ss who were anxious about math avoided majors that had moderate or high math requirements. Ss who were less skilled at arithmetic chose majors with fewer math requirements. Because gender and negative affect toward math contributed independently to choice of major, interventions to combat math anxiety could be valuable for both males and females. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multilevel perspective on gender in classroom motivation and climate: Potential benefits of male teachers for boys?

Are boys better motivated by male than female teachers in high school math, science, and English classes, and can these differences be explained by classroom climate? Using a cross-classified multilevel model with 5 levels (school, teacher, class, student, subject), the authors found little or no support for this contention. In general (except in terms of anxiety and persistence), girls were better motivated than boys, and these differences tended to generalize over student age and school subject in classes taught by both male and female teachers. Student perceptions of classroom climate were more specific to the group of students within a particular class than to the teacher who taught the class and had moderate to large effects on the motivation of individual students. The surprisingly small amounts of variance explained in motivation by student gender and age, teacher gender, school subject, and their interactions support a gender invariance and similarities model but not theoretical predictions based on gender stereotype, gender intensification, and gender matching perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of attitude stereotypes: The case of inferences based on gender.

Three studies were undertaken to assess the accuracy of people's estimates of the attitudes of men and women. In Exp 1, attitudes of male and female college students were assessed on a broad range of social and political issues. In Exp 2, 30 male and 30 female college students estimated the attitudes of typical males and females on the same statements. These estimates were used to select a set of stereotypic male statements and a set of stereotypic female statements. In Exp 3, 44 male and 53 female college students estimated the attitudes of male and female students on the 2 sets of statements. Results of the 1st 2 studies indicated that both men and women expected larger gender differences in attitudes than actually exist. In the 3rd study, this result was confirmed and it was found that people were least accurate in their estimates of the attitudes of men. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesis that in-group stereotypes would be more accurate than out-group stereotypes. Men were more accurate than women in estimating the attitudes of men but men and women were equally accurate in estimating the attitudes of women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007.

In 1993 Oliver and Hyde conducted a meta-analysis on gender differences in sexuality. The current study updated that analysis with current research and methods. Evolutionary psychology, cognitive social learning theory, social structural theory, and the gender similarities hypothesis provided predictions about gender differences in sexuality. We analyzed gender differences in 30 reported sexual behaviors and attitudes for 834 individual samples uncovered in literature searches and 7 large national data sets. In support of evolutionary psychology, results from both the individual studies and the large data sets indicated that men reported slightly more sexual experience and more permissive attitudes than women for most of the variables. However, as predicted by the gender similarities hypothesis, most gender differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors were small. Exceptions were masturbation incidence, pornography use, casual sex, and attitudes toward casual sex, which all yielded medium effect sizes in which male participants reported more sexual behavior or permissive attitudes than female participants. Most effect sizes reported in the current study were comparable to those reported in Oliver and Hyde’s study. In support of cognitive social learning theory, year of publication moderated the magnitude of effect sizes, with gender differences for some aspects of sexuality increasing over time and others decreasing. As predicted by social structural theory, nations and ethnic groups with greater gender equity had smaller gender differences for some reported sexual behaviors than nations and ethnic groups with less gender equity. Gender differences decreased with age of the sample for some sexual behaviors and attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes of U.S. and Czech/Slovak mental health and health professionals toward five types of sexually explicit materials

Mental health and health professionals' attitudes toward sexually explicit materials in the U.S. and Czech/Slovak Republics were investigated. An instrument measuring attitudes toward educational, soft-core, hard-core, violence, and bizarre/paraphiliac sexually explicit materials was administered to sexologists, psychologist/counselors, and medical professionals. These professionals were attending conferences in the U.S. and the Czech/Slovak Republics between November 1992 and September 1993. Mental health and health professionals had the most favorable attitudes toward educational sexually explicit materials followed by soft-core and hard-core materials, respectively. They had unfavorable attitudes toward violent and bizarre/paraphiliac sexually explicit materials, with particularly negative attitudes toward violent materials. Analysis of covariance showed that strength of religious conviction was a significant covariate; thus professionals with stronger religious conviction had more negative attitudes toward all five types of sexually explicit materials. When controlling for strength of religious conviction: (i) sexologists had more positive attitudes toward most types of sexually explicit materials; (ii) Czech professionals generally had more positive attitudes toward such materials than their U.S. counterparts; and (iii) there were few differences between female and male professionals in their reported attitudes. While previous literature has reported gender differences in attitudes toward sexually explicit materials, findings from this study suggest that this effect may be due to differences in religiosity among women and men, namely, that women tend to be more religious.     

Gender roles as mediators of sex differences in expressions of pathology.

Tested the extent to which gender role attributes and gender role ideology account for sex differences in internally directed psychological distress and in externally directed deviant behavior in a random sample of 2,013 adolescents. Results indicate that gender roles substantially mediate sex differences in both types of pathology: Masculine instrumental attributes reduce internalized distress, whereas feminine expressive attributes reduce externalized behavior problems. In addition, conventional gender role attitudes were positively related to externalizing problems among male adolescents, but were unrelated to pathology among female adolescents. These associations were largely equivalent across Black and White racial groups and across age groups (13–19 yrs). Two alternative theoretical models linking gender roles and pathology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role attitudes and mathematical ability in 4th-, 8th-, and 11th-grade students from a high socioeconomic area.

Examined gender differences in mathematical ability, relationship of sex-role attitudes to mathematical ability, and age-related changes in attitude toward math. 317 4th, 8th, and 11th graders of high SES were given a sex-role standards attitude scale and either the Stanford Mathematics Achievement Test or the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test. Overall, no significant differences by sex were found in math ability. Sex-role attitudes related to higher math scores at the 4th- and 8th-grade levels. Females tended to express positive attitudes toward mathematics at all grade levels—significantly more so than males at the 11th-grade level. Implications are discussed in terms of culturally influenced sex-role attitudes and characteristics of this SES. Girls of this SES may receive more parental encouragement and have different role models than average children. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm.

Four studies examined the relation between college students' own attitudes toward alcohol use and their estimates of the attitudes of their peers. All studies found widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance: Students believed that they were more uncomfortable with campus alcohol practices than was the average student. Study 2 demonstrated this perceived self–other difference also with respect to one's friends. Study 3 tracked attitudes toward drinking over the course of a semester and found gender differences in response to perceived deviance: Male students shifted their attitudes over time in the direction of what they mistakenly believed to be the norm, whereas female students showed no such attitude changes. Study 4 found that students' perceived deviance correlated with various measures of campus alienation, even though that deviance was illusory. The implications of these results for general issues of norm estimation and responses to perceived deviance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dental students' attitude to gender roles

This investigation assessed attitudes held by United States women and men dental students toward professional and sex role concepts. The concepts included: female dental student, male dental student, dentist, adult woman, adult man, wife and husband. These attitudes were evaluated and compared in the context of the students' current and future professional roles and their sex roles. Although there were several differences in attitudes between the two subject groups, the results suggest that the women and men dental students viewed their various roles as consistent with one another. It is particularly important to note that the women dental student is viewed by both gender groups as having professional and sex roles which do not conflict.     

A study on disclosure by HIV positives by use of simulation using case vignettes

AIDS patients/HIV positives have been increasing in Japan, but a large proportion of university students, who have high risk sexual behavior, are not aware of the danger of HIV infection. Because of little disclosure by AIDS patients/HIV positives in Japan, the students have a poor chance of knowing of their risk in sexual behavior situations. Discrimination or prejudice toward AIDS patients/HIV positives has suppressed disclosure. However, as the real risk changes of disclosure is unknown, a simulation study, using case vignettes, was carried out to measure risks. A total of 1,128 university students (487 male and 641 female) were asked to read one of six vignettes describing HIV positives, that consisted of three infection routes (one by blood preparation and two by sexual intercourse) with disclosure or without disclosure. After reading a vignette, they answered questions about the images of HIV positives and their attitudes to him or her. As a result of reading these vignettes, friendly images were enhanced and the disagreeable images were decreased, but students' attitudes were unchanged. Significant differences were recognized in attitudes concerning responsibility for the infection and sympathy toward HIV positives, depending on the infection routes (blood preparation or sexual intercourse). Female students had a tendency to be more favorable to HIV positives than the male students. This simulation study showed the difficulty of changing students' attitudes regardless of the image of HIV positives, and demonstrated the need for effective action toward reducing discrimination or prejudice.     

Gender-related differences on the College Board's Advanced Placement and Achievement tests, 1982–1992.

This study explored gender-related differences in participation in and scores on the College Board's Advanced Placement Program and Achievement examinations. In both sets of tests, the numbers of male and female high school students were unequal for several subject areas. The French, Spanish, and Modern Hebrew examinations attracted many more female than male students, whereas many more male than female students took the Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science examinations. There was little change in most of the patterns of enrollment from 1982 through 1992. Male students had moderately higher scores on the Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science tests, whereas female students had a slight advantage on some of the language examinations. Although the patterns of gender-related score differences were stable, there were some indications that gender differences are narrowing, especially in the areas of American history and computer science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How temporal distance changes novices' attitudes towards unconventional arts.

The authors suggest that, just like other attitudes, attitudes toward art may be malleable, and may thus also depend on situational factors. In particular, the authors propose that thinking styles vary within the situation and that an abstract versus concrete thinking style has an influence on attitudes toward conventional (e.g., Mona Lisa by da Vinci) versus unconventional (e.g., Fat Corner by Beuys) artworks. Construal Level Theory predicts that when people think about the distant future they automatically start thinking in a more abstract way, relative to when people think about the near future, which is supposed to elicit a concrete thinking style. In an experiment, the authors asked participants to think about their lives a year from now or tomorrow. Afterward, in an allegedly unrelated task, participants were asked to evaluate conventional and unconventional artworks. Results showed that participants that had thought about distant events and presumably thought more abstractly were more likely to include unconventional artworks into the category of arts than participants that had thought about near events, and thus presumably thought in more concrete terms. Implications for applied settings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)