Features of sexual dimorphism in cognitive abilities and structures of interests in teenagers with high level of intelligence

We present the results of the study of age dynamics factors of the intellectual abilities of cognitively gifted adolescents, namely manifestations of sexual dimorphism in their intellectual sphere and interests. We described an empirical testing of the hypothesis of the specifics of sexual dimorphism of intellectual abilities of adolescents with a high IQ. The study involved 249 adolescents (St. Petersburg), aged 14-17 years, including 132 adolescent high IQ - 81 girl and 51 boy, 117 adolescents with an average IQ - 66 girls and 51 boy. Intellectual performance (11 faculties - spatial, verbal, math, memory) are measured by the Universal intelligence test, the interests – with a biographical questionnaire. Mathematical processing of data was performed using SPSS Statistics 20. The study showed sexual dimorphism abilities manifested in adolescents with high IQ: girls outperform boys in verbal (p = 0.001), spatial (p = 0.05), mnemonic abilities (p = 0.001) and in general, IQ (r = 0.05); boys outperform girls in mathematical abilities (p = 0.001). No differences were found in adolescents with average IQ. Differences in IQ scores of boys and girls with high IQ were similar to the structure of the differences in their interests. We suggested an especially "sensitive" development abilities of teenagers with a high IQ to the structure of interest.