GENDER DIFFERENCES IN VARIABILITY IN INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES - A CROSS-CULTURAL-PERSPECTIVE

A cross-cultural quantitative review of contemporary findings of gende r differences in variability in verbal, mathematical, and spatial abil ities was conducted to assess the generalizability of U.S. findings th at (a) males are more variable than females in mathematical and spatia l abilities, and (b) the sexes are equally variable in verbal ability. No consistent gender differences (variance ratios) were found across countries in any of the three broad ability domains. Instead, males we re more variable than females in some nations and females were more va riable than males in other nations. Thus, the well-established U.S. fi ndings of consistently greater male variability in mathematical and sp atial abilities were not invariant across cultures and nations.