Sex differences in the effects of interest on boys' and girls' reading comprehension

This study compared the reading comprehension of groups of boys and girls (aged 10–11) on two tests, one of which was about the evacuation of children during the Second World War and the other of which was about spiders. These were the actual year 6 SATS reading tests administered in the UK in 1998 and 1999. The majority of the boys said that they would prefer to read the text about spiders, and the majority of the girls said they would prefer to read the text about leaving home in wartime. These patterns of preference were reflected in the children's performance on the actual tests. However, whereas the boys' comprehension was significantly affected by the content of the tests (they showed better performance on the test about spiders) the girls' performance was relatively little influenced by the content of the test. The implications of these results for testing reading, and for encouraging reading more generally, are discussed.