Sex differences on the WISC-R in New Zealand

Sex differences on the WISC-R were examined in a sample of 897 New Zealand children studied at ages 8 and 9 years. Boys scored significantly higher than girls on the subtests of information, vocabulary, block design and object assembly, while girls scored significantly higher on coding. Boys obtained slightly but not significantly higher scores on the verbal, performance and full scale IQs. The results were in general similar to the sex differences in the standardisation samples of the WISC-R in Scotland, the Netherlands and the United States.