Hyde Janet S, Mertz Janet E
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 2;106(22):8801-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0901265106. Epub 2009 Jun 1.
Using contemporary data from the U.S. and other nations, we address 3 questions: Do gender differences in mathematics performance exist in the general population? Do gender differences exist among the mathematically talented? Do females exist who possess profound mathematical talent? In regard to the first question, contemporary data indicate that girls in the U.S. have reached parity with boys in mathematics performance, a pattern that is found in some other nations as well. Focusing on the second question, studies find more males than females scoring above the 95th or 99th percentile, but this gender gap has significantly narrowed over time in the U.S. and is not found among some ethnic groups and in some nations. Furthermore, data from several studies indicate that greater male variability with respect to mathematics is not ubiquitous. Rather, its presence correlates with several measures of gender inequality. Thus, it is largely an artifact of changeable sociocultural factors, not immutable, innate biological differences between the sexes. Responding to the third question, we document the existence of females who possess profound mathematical talent. Finally, we review mounting evidence that both the magnitude of mean math gender differences and the frequency of identification of gifted and profoundly gifted females significantly correlate with sociocultural factors, including measures of gender equality across nations.
利用来自美国和其他国家的当代数据，我们探讨三个问题：在普通人群中数学成绩是否存在性别差异？在数学天才中是否存在性别差异？是否存在具有卓越数学天赋的女性？关于第一个问题，当代数据表明，美国女孩在数学成绩上已与男孩相当，其他一些国家也存在这种模式。聚焦第二个问题，研究发现数学成绩高于第95或第99百分位的男性多于女性，但在美国，这种性别差距已随着时间显著缩小，在一些族裔群体和一些国家中并未发现这种差距。此外，多项研究的数据表明，男性在数学方面更大的变异性并非普遍存在。相反，它的存在与多种性别不平等指标相关。因此，这在很大程度上是可变的社会文化因素造成的结果，而非两性之间不可改变的先天生物学差异。针对第三个问题，我们证明了存在具有卓越数学天赋的女性。最后，我们审视越来越多的证据，即平均数学性别差异的程度以及天才和极有天赋女性的识别频率都与社会文化因素显著相关，包括各国的性别平等指标。
