What Accounts for Individual and Gender Differences in the Multi-Digit Number Processing of Primary School Children?

Abstract

Gender differences in numerical domains have frequently been reported, but typically only from high-school age onwards. Recently, we found performance differences in favor of primary school boys in multi-digit number processing. Several underlying factors have been suggested to explain general differences in multi-digit number processing (such as visual-spatial working memory capacity), gender differences in mathematics (such as attitudes toward mathematics), and gender differences in multi-digit number processing (such as visual-spatial abilities). To date, no study has tested the concurrent impact of these factors on the development of multi-digit number processing in primary school children; thus, we applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal dataset of 140 primary school children. Our main result was that gender exerted the strongest influence on multi-digit number processing, which was partly mediated by attitudes toward mathematics. Furthermore, general visual-spatial abilities (but not visual-spatial working memory) had a strong impact on individual differences in multi-digit number processing. These results are discussed in light of the psychobiosocial view.