A comparison of sex differences in visual-spatial performance from preadolescence to adulthood in Ghana and Norway

This study examined sex-related differences in visual-spatial performance from a cross-cultural perspective by comparing cross-sectional data on four visual-spatial tests (measuring three spatial ability categories) on four different age groups (9, 12, 16 and adults) in Ghana and Norway. Reliable sex differences in favor of males were present in all age groups and their effect size magnitudes were practically constant over age in the two cultures. There were significant differences in the test intercorrelations in the two samples, suggesting that different structures of abilities may underlie spatial task performance in the two cultures. The results do not support the notion that the development of sex differences in spatial abilities is dependent on maturational or psychosocial processes. The near adult effect size by age 9 and the stability of the magnitude across cultures, argue for a biologically-based explanation of the observed sex differences in spatial performance.