Boys' Math Scores Worldwide Have Higher Variability Than Those of Girls

December 3, 2008

A study of teenagers in the industrialized world outside the United States shows that boys' mathematics and reading test scores tend to range more widely than those of girls. The results match trends seen in U.S. data.

Stephen Machin of the London School of Economics and Tuomas Pekkarinen of Abo Akademi University, in Turku, Finland, based their conclusions on data from Europe's 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment, which tested 15-year-olds in math and reading in 41 nations. In the math tests, the higher scores tended to come from boys, but in the reading tests, boys were more likely to deliver the lower scores.

"Because literacy and numeracy skills have been shown to be important determinants of later success in life," the researchers stated, "these differing variances have important economic and social implications."

"How this translates into educational achievement is a matter open for discussion," they concluded.

Their report, titled "Global Sex Differences in Test Score Variability," appeared in the Nov. 27, 2008 Science.

Source: Science, Nov. 27, 2008