title: The changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe.
abstract: Cognitive gender differences and the reasons for their origins have fascinated researchers for decades. Using nationally representative data to investigate gender differences in cognitive performance in middle-aged and older populations across Europe, we show that the magnitude of these differences varies systematically across cognitive tasks, birth cohorts, and regions, but also that the living conditions and educational opportunities individuals are exposed to during their formative years are related to their later cognitive performance. Specifically, we demonstrate that improved living conditions and less gender-restricted educational opportunities are associated with increased gender differences favoring women in some cognitive functions (i.e., episodic memory) and decreases (i.e., numeracy) or elimination of differences in other cognitive abilities (i.e., category fluency). Our results suggest that these changes take place due to a general increase in women's cognitive performance over time, associated with societal improvements in living conditions and educational opportunities.
authors: World Population Program, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; weberd@iiasa.ac.at.
authors: Daniela
authors: D
authors: Weber
authors: World Population Program, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria;Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Statistics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0403 Oslo, Norway;
authors: Vegard
authors: V
authors: Skirbekk
authors: Research Unit Economics, Institute of Mathematical Methods in Economics, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria; and.
authors: Inga
authors: I
authors: Freund
authors: Section of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, and Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Agneta
authors: A
authors: Herlitz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004522:Educational Status; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012924:Social Conditions
keywords: cognitive aging; cross-cultural research; gender inequality; sex differences