title: Cognitive sex differences are not magnified as a function of age, sex hormones, or puberty development during early adolescence.
abstract: Are cognitive sex differences magnified by individual differences in age, sex hormones, or puberty development? Cross-sectional samples of 12- to 14-year-old boys (n = 85) and girls (n = 102) completed tasks assessing episodic memory, face recognition, verbal fluency, and mental rotations. Blood estradiol, free testosterone, and self-rated puberty scores were obtained. Sex differences were found on all cognitive measures. However, the magnitude was not larger for older children, hormones and cognitive performance were not associated, and early maturers did not perform better than late maturers. Thus, cognitive sex differences were not associated with age, levels of sex hormones, or puberty development.
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Center, NVS, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. agneta.herlitz@ki.se
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herlitz
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reuterskiöld
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lovén
authors.forename: Petra P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Thilers
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rehnman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D057566:Self Report; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones