National gender-equality and human-development indicators show no consistent correlation with sex differences in mathematics or reading across the decade¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2013 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Across the decade, the authors found no consistent correlations between the sex differences in mathematics or reading and indicators including HDI, GII, GDI, GEM, GGGI and the Gini coefficient. → Stoet G 2013

Evidence¶

Stoet G 2013¶

Stoet G, Geary DC (2013) Sex Differences in Mathematics and Reading Achievement Are Inversely Related: Within- and Across-Nation Assessment of 10 Years of PISA Data. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57988. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057988

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Correlational analysis (Table 3) of sex differences in mathematics and reading against six national indicators (HDI, GII, GDI, GEM, GGGI, Gini) for each assessment year, using Pearson or Spearman coefficients as appropriate. The article reports "no consistent correlations"; no effect size is printed for this null pattern.

"But across the decade, we found no consistent correlations between the sex differences in mathematics or reading and these variables (Table 3)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Gender — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Across nations, boys outperform girls in mathematics by a small average margin while girls outperform boys in reading by a margin three times larger — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Sex differences in mathematics and reading are strongly and inversely correlated across nations in all four PISA assessments — related
• The mathematics sex difference favoring boys is more consistently found among higher-achieving nations, with considerable variability among lower-scoring countries — reports the opposite
• The reading sex difference favoring girls grew over the decade and was driven by very poor performance of boys at the low end — related
• The inverse relation between mathematics and reading sex differences also holds within nations across the performance continuum — related
• The gender gap in reading is three times bigger than the gender gap in math — related
• The mathematics sex difference is practically non-existent among low performers and largest among high performers, where boys outnumber girls up to 2.7:1 above the 99th percentile — related
• Sex differences in mathematics tend to be somewhat larger in more gender-equal countries (GGGI coefficient B = 0.921, p = .051), controlling for region — reports the opposite