Stability of Results Across Many Studies: Sex Differences on the Personal Orientation Inventory

An analysis of sex differences on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was used to illustrate a method to assess the stability of results across many studies. It was argued that sex should not be Used as a moderator as significant differences between males and females were not found consistently across six studies using the POI.     

Male-female differences in occupational attitudes within minority groups

Few studies have considered sex differences in occupational attutudes in minority group samples. Evidence of interracial differences in occupational attitudes, coupled with probably interracial differences in socialization processes, suggests that patterns of sex differences in occupational attitudes may not be invariant across races. Any such variations could contaminate interracial comparisons within sexes. The current study examined sex differences in occupational attitudes in two samples of poor minority group members. Differences regularly isolated in studies of whites were not evident. In both samples, rankings of preferences for work-related outcomes of males and females were remarkably similar.     

Sex, ethnic, and social differences in test anxiety among Israeli adolescents

The effects of sex, ethnicity, and social class on levels of test anxiety were examined among a sample of 416 adolescent students in Israel. Significant sex differences in mean levels of test anxiety were found, with girls scoring consistently higher than boys across ethnic, social, and grade categories. Pupils of low socioeconomic status (SES) also scored consistently higher than pupils of high SES across grades. Nevertheless, this study provides little support for the commonly held view that sociocultural or sex group differences in school achievement are due, in any meaningful way, to differences in test anxiety. The group differences, though significant for SES and sex, were of negligible magnitude, and the correlation between test anxiety scores and grade point average was minimal for the group as a whole and nonsignificant for students of Eastern background, who have been purported to be particularly affected by high levels of test anxiety. The findings do support other cross-cultural studies, which have found only a modicum of shared variance between test anxiety and grades. It is concluded that test anxiety is not a particularly valid predictor of achievement or ability.     

Sex differences in self-disclosure: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 205 studies involving 23,702 Ss was conducted to determine whether there are sex differences in self-disclosure. Across these studies, women disclosed slightly more than men (d = .18). This effect size was not homogeneous across studies. Several moderator variables were found. Sex of target and the interaction effect of relationship to target and measure of self-disclosure moderated the effect of sex on self-disclosure. Sex differences in self-disclosure were significantly greater to female and same-sex partners than to opposite-sex or male partners. When the target had a relationship with the discloser (i.e., friend, parent, or spouse), women disclosed more than men regardless of whether self-disclosure was measured by self-report or observation. When the target was a stranger, men reported that they disclosed similarly to women; however, studies using observational measures of self-disclosure found that women disclosed more than men.     

Sex Differences in Simple Visual Reaction Time: A Historical Meta-Analysis

To test the hypothesis that the magnitude of sex differences in simple visual reaction time (RT) has narrowed across time, a meta-analysis was conducted on 72 effect sizes derived from 21 studies (n=15,003) published over a 73-year period. The analysis provided strong evidence for the hypothesized change. In addition, the analysis indicated that the sex difference in RT was on average smaller with non-U.S. samples than with U.S. samples. No relation was found between the magnitude of the sex difference in RT and age or presence vs. absence of a warning signal. Two factors–-participation in fast-action sports and driving–-are proposed as having been responsible for the decrease in the magnitude of the sex differences in simple visual RT across time.     

Sex differences in face cognition

Although there is abundant evidence for female superiority in Face Cognition (FC), a number of questions regarding sex differences remain to be addressed. Here we report a reanalysis of data on the level of latent factors, modeled on the basis of an extensive test battery applied to three samples of over 800 adults in all. In independent samples the measurement structure of FC was invariant for both sexes, indicating that the measurement of the construct does not depend on the context variable sex, and investigating mean performance differences will not be biased by measurement issues — a neglected aspect in previous studies. We confirmed female superiority for face perception (FP) and face memory (FM). For the first time we could show that these sex differences prevailed after accounting for sex differences in broadly measured general cognitive functioning and in object perception. Across adult age, sex differences in FM increased due to the rapid decline of this ability in men, whereas performance in women remained stable across adult age. Self-reported social involvement and things-oriented activities moderated sex-differences in FM. Results show that sex differences are salient at the level of specific FC constructs and that they can be partially explained by social involvement.     

Shostrom's personal orientation inventory: Arguments against its basic validity

Psychometric characteristics and validity of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) are at issue in the literature, particularly sinece the reported POI's internal consistency reliabilities are below accepted levels for published tests. This paper contends that a likely root of serious problems lies in errors made in the original POI validation. It is shown that the POI fails to meet its long-standing published claim that it can discriminate between ‘self-actualized’ (SA) and ‘normal adults’, as this is shown not to be true for 75% of its scales. It is demonstrated that the original and extend validation was illogically based on mean values of test scores of validation subject groups instead of correctly using their score ranges. A substantial lack of discrimination between the SA and ‘non-self-actualizing’ norm groups is shown to arise from the overlap of their estimated correct validation ranges amounting to about 62–86% of their combined membership. A hypothesis is that the POI is not measuring the degree of SA sufficiently, but instead measures some other variable(s) that may be weak to moderate correlate. Alternatively, the differences in the three validation constructs used may have been weakly exemplified by the subjects chosen for the validation groups. Clinical and research use of the POI is questionable. Suggestions are made for a proper validation model and for POI revisions.     

Verbal violence in the workplace according to victims' sex—a systematic review of the literature

Verbal abuse is the most prevalent form of workplace violence. Its impacts on organizations as well as on victims' health are numerous. Several studies have emphasized the need to take into consideration victims' characteristics, in particular sex, to better understand rates of verbal violence in the workplace. Indeed, study results are contradictory, as some show women to be more at risk while others indicate that men would be more exposed. These variations could in part be explained by other factors that influence the prevalence of workplace violence, such as occupational domain and job characteristics. This review of literature thus aimed to describe the prevalence of verbal violence according to sex across occupational domains. Results showed that a majority of studies concluded to no significant sex differences. Among the studies with significant results, men tended to be more at risk than women. However, due to several limitations, it was not possible to draw conclusions as regards specific occupations. Conclusions of this review lead to specific recommendations for future research.     

Sex differences in latent cognitive abilities ages 5 to 17: Evidence from the Differential Ability Scales—Second Edition

Sex differences in the latent general and broad cognitive abilities underlying the Differential Ability Scales, Second Edition were investigated for children and youth ages 5 through 17. Multi-group mean and covariance structural equation modeling was used to investigate sex differences in latent cognitive abilities as well as changes in these differences across age. Most broad abilities showed mean differences across the sexes, and all such differences varied across ages. Girls showed an advantage on the processing speed (Gs) first-order residual factor. Girls also showed advantages at some ages on free-recall memory, a narrow ability of long term retrieval (Glr). Boys showed a developmentally-related advantage on a visual-spatial ability (Gv) first-order residual factor, depending on age. Younger girls showed an advantage on short-term memory (Gsm). No statistically significant sex differences were shown on the latent comprehension-knowledge (Gc) factor, or on a second-order, latent g factor. Boys showed larger variances for several broad abilities, some substantial, but those differences were not statistically significant.     

The Development and Sex-Related Use of Interruption Behavior

In this article the authors argue that claims of sex differences in interruption behavior should not be uncritically accepted as there are limitations in previous research that make such acceptance questionable. The frequency of interruption was examined over a portion of the early life span (Grades 4 and 9 and college). Twenty-minute structured conversations of 90 dyads (30 male, 30 female, and 30 mixed sex) were scored for four types of interruption, and both developmental and sex differences in interruption behavior were examined. Interruption frequency did not change over age or across dyads of different sex composition. Males did not interrupt any more than females did and females were interrupted by their partners as frequently as males were interrupted by theirs, with one exception: Grade 9females were interrupted more by their female partners. Interruptions were asymmetrically distributed in same-sex and opposite-sex dyads; however, the asymmetry in opposite-sex dyads was not predictablefrom sex of subject or sex of partner. That is, males did not interrupt females any more than females interrupted males. The authors conclude that wholesale acceptance of sex differences in interruption behavior is not warranted.     

Influence of age and sex on line bisection: a study of normal performance with implications for visuospatial neglect

Line bisection is an established clinical task used to diagnose visuospatial neglect. To date, few studies have considered the extent to which age and sex as background variables contribute to bisection performance. Both variables affect the neural substrates underlying cognitive processes and hence the behavioural performance of bisection. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age and sex on normal bisection performance, using three different line lengths to elucidate the influence of these potential contributing factors. Seventy men and 70 women, divided equally into seven age-cohorts between 14 and 80 years, bisected lines. Results indicated clear age- and sex-related differences both in the magnitude and direction of bisection deviations across the three line lengths. Differences are discussed in terms of neural changes across the adult lifespan including hemispheric differences and hormonally mediated changes.     

Sex differences in cognition are stable over a 10-year period in adulthood and old age

Sex differences in declarative memory and visuospatial ability are robust in cross-sectional studies. The present longitudinal study examined whether sex differences in cognition were present over a 10-year period, and whether age modified the magnitude of sex differences. Tests assessing episodic and semantic memory, and visuospatial ability were administered to 625 nondemented adults (initially aged 35-80 years), participating in the population-based Betula study at two follow-up occasions. There was stability of sex differences across five age groups and over a 10-year period. Women performed at a higher level than men on episodic recall, face and verbal recognition, and semantic fluency, whereas men performed better than women on a task-assessing, visuospatial ability. Sex differences in cognitive functions are stable over a 10-year period and from 35 to 90 years of age.     

A multivariable analysis of spatial abilities by sex

This article presents a series of studies investigating the influence of experimental factors and the personological variables of age and sex upon spatial abilities. It was hypothesized that the overall equivocal findings typical of spatial research may be partially due to the use of different factors across studies. The experimental variables of spatial factor, task demands, spatial information type, information-processing mode, and response mode were systematically manipulated across the eight studies. In each individual analysis of data collected in a specific study, no significant main effect sex differences were detected. However, when a meta-analytic review of the studies was conducted, both spatial information dimensionality and information dimensionality × spatial factor assessed proved to be influential on male and female spatial performances. Female performance was superior when the dimensionality of stimulus and response variables was invariant. Males had the advantage when dimensionality crossing was necessitated. The discrepancy between the sexes was particularly dramatic when the spatial orientation factor was tapped.     

Sex differences of salivary cortisol secretion in patients with major depression

Depression is associated with increased cortisol secretion and occurs more often in women than in men. Thus, it has been hypothesized that differences in cortisol secretion might, in part, be responsible for the greater risk of developing depression in women. However, only few studies have examined sex differences in baseline cortisol secretion in depressed patients and healthy controls. We examined sex effects on cortisol secretion in 52 medication-free patients with major depression (37 women, 15 men, mean ± SD age 35 ± 11 years, Hamilton Depression Scale mean score 27 ± 5) and 50 healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects. Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured at 8:00, 12:00, 16:00, and 22:00 h. Repeated measures analysis of covariance revealed a group × sex interaction (p = 0.05). Post hoc tests revealed higher cortisol concentrations in depressed compared to healthy men [F(1;29) = 7.5, p = 0.01]. No differences were found between depressed and non-depressed women. Our results do not support the hypothesis that differences in cortisol secretion between depressed and non-depressed subjects are more pronounced in women than in men. Study characteristics and methods as well as sex-specific confounding variables such as menstrual cycle, menopause and the use of oral contraceptives may account for inconclusive results across studies.     

Association of suicide rates for elderly age bands with gender equality

A lower sex ratio (male to female) of elderly suicide rates in several Asian countries have been attributed to gender inequality on several parameters. The association of two proxy measures of gender equality (value of the gender empowerment measure and the gender-related development index) and the male to female sex ratio of suicide rates in the age bands 65-74 yr. and 75+ yr. was examined using multiple linear regression. The two proxy measures of gender equality did not account for significant variance in the male to female sex ratio of suicide rates in the age bands 65-74 yr. and 75+ yr. Association of gender equality with the male to female sex ratio of suicide rates requires further clarification in both cross-sectional studies across different countries and longitudinal studies within individual countries for all age bands. Such studies should, in addition to the GEM and the GDI, include other measures of gender equality including sex differences in educational attainment, income, poverty, housing, employment, access to healthcare and social welfare services, and urbanisation.     

Gender differences in affiliation and instrumentality across adulthood.

This secondary data analysis tests the hypothesis that gender differences decline across adulthood. Six measures tapping 3 dimensions of affiliation and instrumentality were selected from the cross-sectional sample surveys of The Quality of American Life (1971) and Americans View Their Mental Health (1976). In both studies, approximately 2,200 adults who had been selected from probability samples of households in the continental United States were interviewed. For each measure, the variance explained by age, sex, and Age x Sex interaction terms was compared with the variance explained by age and sex alone. The addition of the interaction terms does not significantly increase the R2 for any of the measures, arguing against a late-life convergence of men's and women's orientations. Although the release from active parenting has been proposed as a basis for declining gender differentiation, limiting the analyses to respondents with children does not change this conclusion.     

Factorial invariance and latent mean differences of scores on trait emotional intelligence across gender and age

Little is known about the factorial invariance and latent mean difference across sex and age in trait emotional intelligence (EI). The purpose of this study was to examine whether the measurement structure underlying trait EI is equivalent across sex and age groups. The sample consisted of 2919 teenagers, youths and adults. In order to investigate the above hypothesis the measurement and structural equivalence as well as the equality of latent means of scores across sex and age were tested. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that configural, metric, scalar and structural invariance exist across sex and age samples. Findings regarding the latent mean differences across sex and age groups are discussed with reference to recent and past findings.     

Sex Differences in Cognition are Stable Over a 10-Year Period in Adulthood and Old Age

ABSTRACT

Sex differences in declarative memory and visuospatial ability are robust in cross-sectional studies. The present longitudinal study examined whether sex differences in cognition were present over a 10-year period, and whether age modified the magnitude of sex differences. Tests assessing episodic and semantic memory, and visuospatial ability were administered to 625 nondemented adults (initially aged 35–80 years), participating in the population-based Betula study at two follow-up occasions. There was stability of sex differences across five age groups and over a 10-year period. Women performed at a higher level than men on episodic recall, face and verbal recognition, and semantic fluency, whereas men performed better than women on a task-assessing, visuospatial ability. Sex differences in cognitive functions are stable over a 10-year period and from 35 to 90 years of age.     

Influence of Age and Sex on Line Bisection: A Study of Normal Performance with Implications for Visuospatial Neglect

ABSTRACT

Line bisection is an established clinical task used to diagnose visuospatial neglect. To date, few studies have considered the extent to which age and sex as background variables contribute to bisection performance. Both variables affect the neural substrates underlying cognitive processes and hence the behavioural performance of bisection. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age and sex on normal bisection performance, using three different line lengths to elucidate the influence of these potential contributing factors. Seventy men and 70 women, divided equally into seven age-cohorts between 14 and 80 years, bisected lines. Results indicated clear age- and sex-related differences both in the magnitude and direction of bisection deviations across the three line lengths. Differences are discussed in terms of neural changes across the adult lifespan including hemispheric differences and hormonally mediated changes.     

Gender differences in visual attention to television form and content

Formal features (i.e., rapid action, dialogue, and animation) and content variables (i.e., violence, theme, and sex of characters) were analyzed as possible determinants of gender differences in children's television viewing. Two studies are reported. In Study 1, 5- and 7-year-old boys' and girls' visual attention was observed during four animated programs representing four combinations of high and low action with high and low violence. Boys' visual attention was greater than girls'. Attention was higher to high violence than to low violence. Boys' attention did not vary across treatments, but girls attended more to programs with low action than with high action. In Study 2, nine earlier laboratory studies, each with an independent sample, were subjected to a secondary analysis. The procedures were similar to Study 1; the samples ranged from 3 to 11 years old. Across experiments, boys attended significantly more than girls. The secondary analysis was designed to identify program form and content variables that might account for gender differences. Most content and form attributes failed to account for the pattern of gender differences in attention across or within studies. There was weak support for the notion that violent content and animation appeals more to boys than girls. Boys' greater visual attention was not associated with greater comprehension relative to girls'. It was proposed that girls focus more on the verbal auditory content of television, and boys focus more on the visual content.