NEGLIGIBLE SEX-DIFFERENCES IN THE RELATION OF COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOMOTOR ABILITIES

Comparisons of cognitive and psychomotor aptitude factor structure wer e made for samples of men and women. The factor model was previously c onfirmed. It included two higher-order factors representing general co gnitive ability (g) and psychomotor/technical knowledge (PM/TK) as wel l as 10 lower-order cognitive and psychomotor factors. All cognitive a nd psychomotor tests contributed to the factor representing g. The PM/ TK factor was interpreted as representing Vernon's (1969) practical fa ctor (k:m). The model showed acceptable fit for both sexes. The propor tion of total and common variance accounted for by the higher-order fa ctors and lower-order factors were similar for men and women. Confirma tory factor techniques that imposed statistical constraints tested if the factor loadings were the same for both groups. Although some of th e differences in loadings were statistically significant, they were sm all in magnitude (0.05 or less). The most notable differences occurred for the loadings of two technical knowledge tests on g and for a sing le psychomotor tests on PM/TK. All three tests had higher loadings for men than for women. Correlations between factor loadings for men and women approached r = 1.0. These results are consistent with previous r esearch supporting the near identity of ability structure for men and women. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.