Sex differences on the WAIS-R and WMS-R in Australia

Although sex differences have been reported for many aspects of cognition, there is less available data on sex differences on the Wechsler tests of IQ and memory. We assessed sex differences on the WAIS-R and WMS-R in a young adult Australian standardisation sample and investigated the effects of verbal and performance IQ on memory scores. Participants were 399 adults (aged 18-34 years) recruited randomly from the Sydney area as part of the Macquarie University Neuropsychological Normative Study (MUNNS). The sample was representative in terms of important demographic characteristics. Significant sex differences were found on the WAIS-R Information and Arithmetic subtests in favour of males and Digit Symbol in favour of females, while there were no sex differences in IQ Index scores. The data indicate that Australian males do not have higher IQ scores than females. On the WMS-R there were significant sex differences in favour of females on several verbal and visual subtests, as well as all memory Indexes apart from the Attention/Concentration Index. Males performed significantly better on Mental Control only. These findings support the literature on sex differences in memory in general. Verbal ability, as measured by VIQ, could not account for the female advantage in memory scores.