Gender Differences and Changes in Cognitive Abilities Across the Adult Life Span

Gender differences in the covariance structure and latent means of cognitive abilities across the adult life span are explored. A multiply marked, six-factor measurement model examining 982 participants from the Seattle Longitudinal Study tested gender and longitudinal invariance over 7 years. Substantive invariance tests on the factor correlations were also examined. Longitudinal results for the entire sample indicated the best fit was a partial invariance solution supporting time and gender invariance. Individual analyses showed younger and middle age groups to be metrically invariant for all factor loadings as well as time and gender invariance of factor variances and intercorrelations. A metric model also fit best for the older group, although factor variances and intercorrelations only demonstrated gender invariance. Latent mean structures revealed gender differences with women outperforming men for Verbal Recall, and in younger and middle age groups Perceptual Speed, whereas men consistently outperformed women for Spatial Orientation. Results demonstrate gender equivalence in covariance structures across the adult life span and within separate age groups, and reveal gender differences and changes over 7 years in cognitive abilities at the latent mean level.

[1]  N. Carlin,et al.  Sex and gender. , 1996, Science.

[2]  M. Browne,et al.  Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit , 1992 .

[3]  P. Horst,et al.  The relationship between advanced age and mental abilities. , 1957, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[4]  Alan Feingold,et al.  Cognitive gender differences are disappearing. , 1988 .

[5]  Marise Ph. Born,et al.  Cross-Cultural Comparison of Sex-Related Differences on Intelligence Tests , 1987 .

[6]  R E Millsap,et al.  Confirmatory Measurement Model Comparisons Using Latent Means. , 1991, Multivariate behavioral research.

[7]  P. Bentler.  Fit Indexes, Lagrange Multipliers, Constraint Changes and Incomplete Data in Structural Models. , 1990, Multivariate behavioral research.

[8]  A. Kaufman,et al.  Is the pattern of intellectual growth and decline across the adult life span different for men and women? , 1991, Journal of clinical psychology.

[9]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Statistical estimation of structural models in longitudinal-developmental investigations , 1979 .

[10]  J. Horn,et al.  A practical and theoretical guide to measurement invariance in aging research. , 1992, Experimental aging research.

[11]  B. Byrne.  Testing for Invariant Latent Mean Structures , 1989 .

[12]  D. Halpern.  Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities , 1986 .

[13]  Linda M. Collins,et al.  Best Methods for the Analysis of Change: Recent Advances, Unanswered Questions, Future Directions , 1991 .

[14]  R P Hart,et al.  Forgetting rates for verbal, pictorial, and figural stimuli. , 1993, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[15]  David E. Wiley,et al.  The Estimation of Measurement Error in Panel Data , 1970 .

[16]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Is age kinder to females than to males? , 1998 .

[17]  Nina L. Colwill,et al.  The psychology of sex differences , 1978 .

[18]  K Warner Schaie,et al.  Longitudinal invariance of adult psychometric ability factor structures across 7 years. , 1998, Psychology and aging.

[19]  K. Schaie,et al.  Relationship between rigidity-flexibility and cognitive abilities in adulthood. , 1991, Psychology and aging.

[20]  D. Hultsch,et al.  Memory Change in the Aged , 1998 .

[21]  Susan D. Voyer,et al.  Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: a meta-analysis and consideration of critical variables. , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[22]  P. Bentler,et al.  Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures , 1980 .

[23]  Jay Magidson,et al.  Advances in factor analysis and structural equation models , 1979 .

[24]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  Intellectual Development in Adulthood: The Seattle Longitudinal Study , 1996 .

[25]  J. H. Steiger.  Structural Model Evaluation and Modification: An Interval Estimation Approach. , 1990, Multivariate behavioral research.

[26]  J. Horn,et al.  When is invariance not invarient: A practical scientist's look at the ethereal concept of factor invariance. , 1983 .

[27]  S. Rathus.  Psychology, 3rd ed. , 1987 .

[28]  Dag Sörbom,et al.  DETECTION OF CORRELATED ERRORS IN LONGITUDINAL DATA , 1975 .

[29]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Measurement in the psychology of adulthood and aging. , 1985 .

[30]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Structural Equations with Latent Variables , 1989 .

[31]  A. Herlitz,et al.  Gender differences in episodic memory , 1997, Memory & cognition.

[32]  E. Carmines,et al.  Analyzing models with unobserved variables: analysis of covariance structures , 1981 .

[33]  Monica Rosén,et al.  Gender differences in structure, means and variances of hierarchically ordered ability dimensions , 1995 .

[34]  K. Schaie,et al.  Structural Invariance of Cognitive Abilities across the Adult Life Span: A Cross-Sectional Study. , 1989 .

[35]  Jeremy B. Caplan,et al.  Do Sex-Related Cognitive Differences Exist, and Why do People Seek them Out? , 1997 .

[36]  P. Baltes,et al.  Training research in aging on the fluid ability of inductive reasoning , 1981 .

[37]  E. Zelinski,et al.  Sixteen-year longitudinal and time lag changes in memory and cognition in older adults. , 1997, Psychology and aging.

[38]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Sex Differences in the Structure of Intelligence: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis. , 1982 .

[39]  C. Schriesheim.  Causal Analysis: Assumptions, Models, and Data , 1982 .

[40]  B. Byrne,et al.  Testing for the equivalence of factor covariance and mean structures: The issue of partial measurement invariance. , 1989 .

[41]  Howard T. Everson,et al.  Isolating Gender Differences in Test Anxiety: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Test Anxiety Inventory , 1991 .

[42]  K. Schaie,et al.  Individual differences in cross-sectional and 3-year longitudinal memory performance across the adult life span. , 1993, Psychology and aging.

[43]  K. Schaie,et al.  Age difference patterns of psychometric intelligence in adulthood: generalizability within and across ability domains. , 1993, Psychology and aging.

[44]  W. Cunningham.  Factorial invariance: A methodological issue in the study of psychological development. , 1982 .

[45]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Fourteen-year cohort-sequential analyses of adult intellectual development. , 1983 .

[46]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Effects of cognitive training on primary mental ability structure. , 1987, Psychology and aging.

[47]  M. Linn,et al.  Gender differences in verbal ability: A meta-analysis. , 1988 .

[48]  Duane F. Alwin,et al.  Structural equation models in research on human development and aging. , 1988 .

[49]  A. Feingold,et al.  Cognitive gender differences: A developmental perspective , 1993 .

[50]  M. Linn,et al.  Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: a meta-analysis. , 1985, Child development.