Sex Differences in the Aptitudes and Talents of Children as Judged by Peers and Teachers

Abstract

Over 40 different descriptions of aptitudes and talents were distributed among nine experimental peer nomination forms (PNF). These PNFs were administered to two large samples of elementary and junior high school pupils and to their teachers. Sex ratios were computed for each ability among those pupils who emerged as the 10% to 15% ablest in their group as independently judged by their peers and teachers. No less than 60% of the 42 items had a significant overrepresentation of girls (or boys); these ratios exceeded 2:1 in a majority of cases. Boys were judged to be more talented in physical aptitudes and technical talents, and girls were judged to be more talented in arts (especially music) and socioaffective aptitudes. Intercorrelations between data from six different samples showed a very high reproducibility of these sex ratios, regardless of whether the judges were peers or teachers or whether samples came from elementary or junior high schools. Various arguments are presented to demonstrate that these judgments by peers and teachers accurately represent the differential abilities manifested by boys and girls in the school environment.