Sex Differences in Gains Among Hispanic Pre-kindergartners' Mental Rotation Skills.

Carla Abad,Rosalie Odean,Shannon M Pruden

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02563

Carla Abad, Rosalie Odean + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02563

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Abstract

The current study explores change in mental rotation skills throughout the pre-kindergarten year in a Hispanic population to better understand the development of early sex differences in mental rotation. Ninety-six Hispanic children (M = 4 years 8 months) completed a mental rotation task at the beginning and end of pre-kindergarten. Results suggest Hispanic boys and girls differed in gains on mental rotation ability, with boys improving significantly more than girls during pre-kindergarten on a mental rotation task. This study highlights the significance of studying mental rotation abilities in a Hispanic population of pre-kindergarten aged children and suggests the importance of examining sex differences in mental rotation over time, rather than at one time-point, to better understand when sex differences in spatial skills develop. We discuss various factors that potentially affect the growth of spatial skills including the role of early education, spatial experiences, and spatial language input.

Highlights

Spatial thinking is the ability to think about the spatial world and encompasses a number of skills including mentally rotating and transforming objects and shapes, recreating patterns, and navigating around one’s environment (Sinton et al, 2013)
The current study aimed to examine the development of sex differences in the mental rotation skills of Hispanic children throughout pre-k by exploring (1) whether sex differences exist in Hispanic pre-kindergartners’ mental rotation skills at time 1 and time 2; and (2) whether there are sex differences in the changes Hispanic children make on mental rotation skills throughout pre-k
The importance of these findings is threefold as they suggest (1) pre-kindergarten is a time of significant change and emergence of sex differences in mental rotation skills; (2) different methodologies such as including multiple timepoints and examining change is critical for understanding when sex differences in mental rotation skills develop; and (3) early sex differences in mental rotation are generalizable to a Socioeconomic status (SES)-diverse population of Hispanic children living in the United States

Summary

Introduction

Spatial thinking is the ability to think about the spatial world and encompasses a number of skills including mentally rotating and transforming objects and shapes, recreating patterns, and navigating around one’s environment (Sinton et al, 2013). Several studies have established sex differences in adults’ spatial skills, mental rotation ability, with men consistently outperforming women (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974; Linn and Petersen, 1985; Voyer et al, 1995). When these sex differences develop remains uncertain since sex differences in children’s spatial skills are inconsistent (Frick et al, 2014). The current study seeks to fill these gaps in the literature and “advance the conversation” by examining whether there are sex differences in spatial skills over time in a typically understudied population, Hispanic pre-kindergarten (pre-k) children of diverse socioeconomic status. The current study aims to explore whether changes in mental rotation ability made by Hispanic boys throughout pre-kindergarten are different from changes made by Hispanic girls

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