Explaining the sex difference in dyslexia.
BACKGROUND
Males are diagnosed with dyslexia more frequently than females, even in epidemiological samples. This may be explained by greater variance in males' reading performance.


METHODS
We expand on previous research by rigorously testing the variance difference theory, and testing for mediation of the sex difference by cognitive correlates. We developed an analytic framework that can be applied to group differences in any psychiatric disorder.


RESULTS
Males' overrepresentation in the low performance tail of the reading distribution was accounted for by mean and variance differences across sex. There was no sex difference at the high performance tail. Processing speed (PS) and inhibitory control partially mediated the sex difference. Verbal reasoning emerged as a strength in males.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results complement a previous finding that PS partially mediates the sex difference in symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and helps explain the sex difference in both dyslexia and ADHD and their comorbidity.
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Anne B
AB
Arnett
Department of Clinical Child Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA.
Bruce F
BF
Pennington
Colorado Rehabilitation & Therapy, Children's Hospital, Denver, CO, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
Robin L
RL
Peterson
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Erik G
EG
Willcutt
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
John C
JC
DeFries
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Richard K
RK
Olson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011932:Reading; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Reading; dyslexia; inhibition; processing speed; sex difference; verbal reasoning