THE INFLUENCE OF SPATIAL ABILITY ON GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICSCOLLEGE ENTRANCE TEST-SCORES ACROSS DIVERSE SAMPLES

The relationship between mental rotation ability and gender difference s 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 outpe rforming female students in both mental rotation and SAT-M for all 3 h igh-ability groups but not for the low-ability group. For all female s amples, mental rotation predicted math aptitude even when SAT-Verbal w as entered first into the regression. For male samples, the relationsh ip varied as a function of sample. When mental rotation ability was st atistically adjusted for, the significant gender difference in SAT-M w as eliminated for the college sample and the high-ability college-boun d students. This suggests that spatial ability may be responsible in p art for mediating gender differences in math aptitude among these grou ps.