Sex and Group Differences in Reading and Attention Disordered Children with and without Hyperkinesis

Abstract

Four groups of girls—hyperactive, reading disabled, hyperactive and reading disabled, or solely attention disordered—were contrasted with male counterparts on measures of intelligence, achievement, personality, and cognitive style. Across groups, significant sex differences were found for WISC-R measures, WRAT arithmetic, parent-rated aggressivity, Children's Personality Questionnaire (CPQ) profiles. Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT) scores, and self-rated augmentation. For the girls, reading-spelling achievement was robustly associated with WISC-R Verbal scores, while for the boys Sequential Memory scores provided the stronger link. For the girls but not boys cognitive style measures formed a fairly cohesive cluster, as did measures of augmentation, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. The boys' but not girls' color-naming speeds and CEFT scores were strongly correlated with age. Within and across sexes, the groups could be discriminated by their WISC-R profiles, arithmetic scores, and ratings of aggressivity. Solely hyperactive subjects were unexpectedly the most sensitive to omissions of details (Leveling-Sharpening task), but groups did not differ on other cognitive style measures.