Sex Differences in Verbal Abilities in the Wechsler Tests: A Review

Abstract

It has frequently been asserted that females have higher verbal abilities than males. A review of studies of sex differences in verbal abilities in the Wechsler tests shows there was no difference of Verbal IQ on the WPPSI for 4 to 6 year olds. On the WISC for 6 to 16 year olds, males obtained a higher median than females on the Verbal IQ of .16d, and in the WAIS tests for adults males obtained a higher median score than females of .28d. Males obtained higher average scores than females on the Information, Vocabulary, Arithmetic, Comprehension and Similarities subtests of WISC and WAIS.