Sex differences in psychomotor development during the preschool period: A longitudinal study of the effects of environmental factors and of emotional, behavioral, and social functioning

Abstract

We sought to determine the extent to which sex differences in psychomotor development during the preschool period can be explained by differential exposure to environmental factors and/or differences in emotional, behavioral, or social functioning. Children from the EDEN mother–child cohort were assessed for language, gross motor, and fine motor skills at 2, 3, and 5–6 years of age using parental questionnaires and neuropsychological tests. Structural equation models examining the associations between sex and language, gross motor, and fine motor skills at 2, 3, and 5–6 years were performed while adjusting for a broad range of pre- and postnatal environmental factors as well as emotional, behavioral and socialization difficulties. Girls (n = 492) showed better fine motor skills than boys (n = 563) at 2 years (Cohen’s d = 0.67 in the fully adjusted models), at 3 years (d = 0.72), and to a lesser extent at 5–6 years (d = 0.29). Girls also showed better language skills at 2 years (d = 0.36) and 3 years (d = 0.37) but not at 5–6 years (d = 0.04). We found no significant differences between girls and boys in gross motor skills at 2, 3, or 5–6 years. Similar results were found in the models unadjusted and adjusted for pre- and postnatal environmental factors as well as emotional, behavioral, and socialization difficulties. Our findings are consistent with the idea that sex differences in fine motor and language skills at 2 and 3 years of age are not explained by differential exposure to environmental factors or by sex differences in emotional, behavioral, or social functioning.