JSPES, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring 2008)
pp. 101-124

Science: Sex Differences in Attainment

Richard Lynn

University of Ulster

Jaan Mikk

Šiauliai University, Lithuania

We review ten international studies of the attainments of boys and girls in science from 1960 through 2006. In general, boys achieved higher average test scores than girls from the age of 10 years in the earlier studies, but this advantage had disappeared for 10-15 year olds in the years 2003- 2006. All the studies of 18 years found that boys had higher average attainment that girls. The boys’ advantage is greatest in physics and smallest in
biology. Boys have greater variability than girls. The reasons for the higher scores of boys may lie in greater interest in science and, among older adolescents, in greater mathematical ability.