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Sex differences in academic strengths contribute to gender segregation in education and occupation: A longitudinal examination of 167,776 individuals

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  • Dekhtyar, S.
  • Weber, D.
  • Helgertz, J.
  • Herlitz, A.

Abstract

We investigate whether sex differences in academic strengths have an impact on society by affecting the career choices made by women and men. By longitudinally following 167,776 individuals from Sweden, we found that (1) more 16-year old girls than boys had a relative strength in verbal/language school subjects than in technical/numerical ones, whereas more boys than girls had a relative strength in technical/numerical school subjects than in verbal/language ones; (2) when these girls and boys attained higher education and entered employment, they largely pursued careers cognitively matching their initial academic strengths; (3) while individuals generally made career choices in line with their academic strengths, men and women matched on these strengths nevertheless made rather distinct career choices, in particular women with technical/numerical strengths who largely avoided careers demanding these skills; (4) sex distribution in education and occupation was related to the extent these career paths were perceived as either numerically or verbally demanding. Taken together, although gender segregation is to some extent associated with individuals making choices matching their academic strengths, the vast discrepancies in career outcomes between men and women can be only in part attributed to sex differences in academic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Dekhtyar, S. & Weber, D. & Helgertz, J. & Herlitz, A., 2018. "Sex differences in academic strengths contribute to gender segregation in education and occupation: A longitudinal examination of 167,776 individuals," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 84-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:67:y:2018:i:c:p:84-92
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2017.11.007
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    1. Paglin, Morton & Rufolo, Anthony M, 1990. "Heterogeneous Human Capital, Occupational Choice, and Male-Female Earnings Differences," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 123-144, January.
    2. Gijsbert Stoet & David C Geary, 2013. "Sex Differences in Mathematics and Reading Achievement Are Inversely Related: Within- and Across-Nation Assessment of 10 Years of PISA Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
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    1. Daniel Fellman & Richard Bränström & Agneta Herlitz, 2021. "Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Bizon, Wojciech, 2018. "“Tell them it's easy”: Framing incentives in learning basic statistical problems," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 76-81.
    3. Stern, Charlotta & Madison, Guy, 2022. "Sex differences and occupational choice Theorizing for policy informed by behavioral science✰," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 694-702.
    4. Dunkel, Curtis S. & Madison, Guy, 2022. "The possible role of field independence/dependence on developmental sex differences in general intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

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