Diferencias cualitativas en la forma en que niños y niñas utilizan la imaginación en tareas creativas

En esta comunicación abordamos un tema a menudo controvertido: las diferencias en creatividad en función del sexo de los sujetos. Este estudio fue llevado a cabo con una muestra compuesta por 1277 sujetos, 754 varones y 523 mujeres, 697 niños de entre 9 y 12 años y 580 adolescentes de 13 a 18 años. Para la evaluación de la creatividad se utilizó la Prueba de Imaginación Creativa PIC-N (niños) y PIC-J (adolescentes). Nuestros resultados mostraron que tanto las niñas como las adolescentes obtuvieron mejores puntuaciones en la mayor parte de los índices de creatividad que los niños y chicos de estas edades. Estas diferencias entre sexos fueron mayores en los niños más jóvenes. Estos resultados parecen indicar que existen importantes diferencias cualitativas, más que cuantitativas, en la forma en que niños y niñas utilizan la imaginación en tareas creativas. Consideramos que estas diferencias cualitativas pueden deberse en parte a diferencias biológicas en los ritmos de maduración cerebral de niños y niñas, pero fundamentalmente son debidas a diferencias en los estilos de aprendizaje, las expectativas, y la motivación en el desarrollo de niños y niñas.In this paper, we approach the relationship between two issues which stir up a wide controversy: gender and creativity. The investigation was conducted with a sample of 1277 subjects, 754 males and 523 females: 697 elementary students (9 to 12 years of age) and 580 adolescents (13 to 18 years of age). Our results indicate that in divergent thinking tests females of all ages obtained better results in almost all scores. Greater differences were found in younger children. These results seem to indicate that there are important qualitative, rather than quantitative, differences in the way boys and girls use their imagination in creativity tasks. We consider that these qualitative differences are probably due in part to genetic or biological factors, that might explain the difference between sexes in creative achievement in different domains. But mostly, we believe that these qualitative differences are also due to differences in learning styles, expectations, and motivations, in the development of boys and girls.peerReviewe

La salud física de los niños con altas capacidades

The results of an empirical research are submitted in order to know the general health and the main physical symptoms of Spanish gifted children. The sample was composed of 166 subjects: 94 with high abilities (IQ 135-170) and 72 of average intelligence (average IQ = 100), of both sexes and with ages between 7 and 17 years old. Through eleven questions asked to their parents, information regarding their medical history, hospital admissions, main illnesses, the most frequent physical symptoms and other aspects concerning their health were gathered. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between the gifted and the control subjects neither in the number of hospital admissions nor in the number of times they have fallen ill. However, the nervous symptoms were significantly higher among the gifted subjects, as well as irritability and dissatisfaction. On the other hand, their mood was better (happier and more vital) than the one of the control subjects. These differences were not shown by sex, but they were when the highest intellectual subjects (IQ >150) were selected. As a whole, the most frequent physical symptoms in gifted subjects were headaches, and also, but least important, stomachaches and muscle-aches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract