The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

116 Chapter 4

referred to as “school-identified” disabled

students. As shown in Figure 4.8, schools

were two to four times more likely to iden-

tify second-grade boys as reading-disabled

compared to girls—a significant difference,

but researchers identified similar percent-

ages of boys and girls as reading-disabled

using objective criteria. Why the discrep-

ancy? Specifically, why are boys who are not

objectively determined to have a reading

disability labeled so by teachers? Investiga-

tors also had teachers rate students on a host

of other characteristics. Teachers viewed

reading-disabled boys as overactive and hav-

ing more behavioral problems compared to

non-reading-disabled boys. Teachers’ views

of boys’ behavior may have influenced their

judgments of the boys’ reading ability.

age 26, but appeared to be decreasing over

time. In studies published before 1974,

the effect size wasd=-.23; in studies pub-

lished in 1974 and after, the effect size was

d=-.10. A second meta-analysis of studies of

high school students showed that all effects

for verbal ability were near zero (Hedges &

Nowell, 1995).

There is one verbal ability in which a

large sex difference exists: writing (Halpern

et al., 2007). Until recently, standardized

tests did not include a writing component

because it is difficult to score. The 2006 SAT

Writing Test showed that females outper-

formed males on both the multiple-choice

and essay sections (SAT Data Tables, 2010).

Like math ability, the size of the sex

difference in verbal skills depends on the

population studied. Sex differences are

larger when people with verbal difficulties

are examined (Hyde & McKinley, 1997).

Boys are more likely than girls to have dys-

lexia, which generally involves difficulties

with reading, writing, and spelling (Chan

et al., 2007), and boys are more likely than

girls to stutter (McKinnon, McLeod, &

Reilly, 2007; Proctor et al., 2008). Several

people question whether boys have more

verbal difficulties than girls or whether

boys are more likely to be referred for spe-

cial services than girls. Shaywitz and col-

leagues (1990) followed 445 kindergartners

in the state of Connecticut through third

grade. They evaluated the prevalence of

reading disabilities among children in the

second and third grades in two different

ways. First, they identified reading-disabled

children by using objective performance

criteria; these children were referred to as

“research-identified” disabled students.

Second, they noted whether teachers re-

ferred students for special education services

for reading disability; these children were

Male Female Male Female

16

14

12

10

Percentage

Research-Identified School-Identified

8

6

4

2

0

FIGURE 4.8 Identification of reading disabil-

ity in second-grade boys and girls. Researchers

were equally likely to identify boys and girls as

having a reading disability using objective crite-

ria. Teachers at the school, however, were more

likely to refer boys than girls for a reading disabil-

ity using their own subjective criteria.

Source: Adapted from Shaywitz et al. (1990).

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