Gender differences in cognitive abilities of reading-disabled twins.

Gender differences were assessed in three research-identified samples of children who were members of twin pairs: (1) 120 male and 124 female probands from same-sex identical and fraternal twin pairs in which at least one member of each pair is reading disabled; (2) a comparison sample of 148 males and 161 females from same-sex twin pairs with no history of reading problems; and (3) 34 pairs of opposite-sex fraternal twin pairs in which at least one member of each pair is reading disabled. Results of multivariate analyses of variance of psychometric test data from the two samples of same-sex twin pairs, in which the male and female subjects were reared in different homes, suggest that profiles of gender differences are similar in reading-disabled and control children. Moreover, this pattern of gender differences also tended to occur in opposite-sex twin pairs, who shared prenatal, as well as early postnatal, environmental influences. In general, reading-disabled males obtained higher average scores than affected females on Wechsler (1974, 1981) Verbal and Performance IQ, but lower scores on Reading Recognition and Spelling subtests of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Dunn and Markwardt 1970). With regard to the Wechsler subtests, reading-disabled males achieved higher average scores on Information, Picture Completion, Block Design, and Object Assembly, but lower scores on Coding. Although significant and relatively consistent gender differences in cognitive measures were found in three samples included in this study, these differences account for only a small portion of the observed variance.