The organization of spatial abilities in older men and women

The objective of this study was to test the cognitive identity of older male and female populations with reference to raw score, component structure, and component score measures of spatial and verbal performance. One hundred women (average age, 70.2) and 96 men (average age, 69.0) were administered three verbal and six nonverbal congnitive subtests. The equivalence of four-factor principal component analyses of the male and female correlation matrices, corrected for restriction of range, were tested with the multiple group method of factor analysis. High coefficients of congruence for the three spatial and single verbal factors argue strongly for similar congnitive structures. Multivariate analysis of the factor scores, however, showed a significant mean difference between the older men and women. But when Jöreskog's procedures are applied to test the equivalence of covariance structures, the best fit was obtained for a model involving equivalence of factor means, factor structure, factor coefficients and factor correlations.