Greater male variability in overexcitabilities: Domain-specific patterns

Jing Mavis HE WU, Wan-chi WONG

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The greater male variability hypothesis posits that males exhibit greater variability than females in both mental and physical characteristics. The hypothesis has been supported in various giftedness-related constructs (e.g., intelligence, talents, creativity). This study extended this line of research to another giftedness-related psychological construct: overexcitability (OE). The Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two was administered to 836 (51% girls) 7–9th graders in Hong Kong to assess the five domains of OE (i.e., psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional). The results suggested a domain-specific pattern of gender differences in the variability of OE scores. Greater male variability was found in the sensual, imaginational, and intellectual OE domains; male superiority was found in the psychomotor domain; and female superiority was found in the emotional domain. These domain-specific findings enrich the discourse surrounding the greater male variability hypothesis. Theoretical and educational implications regarding the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)27-32
JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
Volume66
Early online dateMar 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Citation

He, W.-j., & Wong, W.-c. (2014). Greater male variability in overexcitabilities: Domain-specific patterns. Personality and Individual Differences, 66, 27-32.

Keywords

  • Greater male variability
  • Gender
  • Overexcitability
  • Variance ratio
  • Gender ratio

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