Revisiting a basic question: does growing up in either female or male environment affect sex differences in academic strengths and occupational choices?

Abstract

Are we affected by growing up in either female or male environment? This study examined whether girls’ and boys’ academic strengths at age 16 in verbal/language school subjects, relative to technical/numerical subjects, and cognitive demands of a chosen occupation at age 35 are influenced by having same- or opposite-sex siblings. Using representative population data from Swedish registers, we extracted (Study 1) 3-sibling families (N = 17,233), focusing on the mid-born, and (Study 2) 2-sibling families (N = 118,688), focusing on the last-born child. Both studies demonstrated that individuals’ academic strengths were unaffected by sibship composition. Study 2 showed that boys with a sister tended to choose more numerically demanding occupations as compared to boys with a brother. Taken together, growing up in a more or less female or male environment, that is, having same- or opposite-sex siblings does not impact one’s tendency to be academically more or less verbally or numerically aligned.