30-YEAR SECULAR TRENDS IN THE COGNITIVE-ABILITIES OF DANISH MALE SCHOOL-LEAVERS AT A HIGH EDUCATIONAL-LEVEL

A nationally representative sample of Danish males finishing school in 1989, or shortly before, with a studentereksamen (the highest qualifi cation in the Danish school system) was found to score generally lower on a battery of four cognitive tests than a comparable sample of Dani sh males who had taken the same tests shortly after finishing school i n the late 1950s or early 1960s. This decline appears attributable to the increasing proportions of students who obtain the stundentereksame n and is quite compatible with an overall increase in test scores, als o found in our data, for the general population over the same time per iod. For those who obtain the stundentereksamen, the decline has been most marked in a test of verbal analogies. It has been smaller for tes ts of logical and spatial reasoning, and scores on a test of numerical ability have actually improved over the 30 years. This differential p attern may be the result of both student changes and curricular change s within Danish schools.