Abstract

GARAIGORDOBIL, Maite  and  AMIGO, Raquel. Intelligence: Gender differences and relations with psychomotor, behavioral, and emotional factors in 5-year-old children. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2010, vol.27, n.2, pp.229-246. ISSN 1668-7027.

The study had two goals: (1) to explore gender differences in intelligence during early infancy; and (2) to analyze the relation between intelligence (verbal, nonverbal, global) and self-concept, psychomotricity, and behavioral and emotional variables. The study of the relations between intelligence and these variables is proposed in order to confirm that at early ages, such developmental areas are strongly interrelated, and this will underline the relevance of carrying out integral educational programs in preschool children. In this study, the cognitive definition of intelligence postulated by Kaufman and Kaufman (1997) was adopted. On the basis of the convergence of various cognitive models and in accordance with the contributions of Neurology and Cognitive Psychology, these authors, conceive intelligence in terms of the individual style of information processing. To a great extent, they consider intelligence to be a question of problem-solving capacities and of the effectiveness of individual information-processing skills. They integrate into the concept of intelligence the theory of fluid intelligence (nonverbal skills and the capacity to solve new problems based on the person's aptitude to perceive relations and complete analogies, skills that are not much affected by culture or learning) and of crystallized intelligence (verbal skills related to academic learning that are supported by knowledge of words and by the formation of verbal concepts, skills that depend to agreat extent on formal schooling and cultural experiences). Taking into account the results of previous studies, the investigation proposes five hypotheses: (1) at the age of 5 years, no significant differences in intelligence will be found between boys and girls; (2) intelligence correlates positively with self-concept; (3) intelligence will have significant positive relations with psychomotor development; (4) intelligence will be negatively associated with indicators of emotional stability, and (5) significant negative relations will be found between intelligence and emotional and behavioral problems. The sample is made up of 74 Spanish boys and girls of 5 years of age, 39.2% boys and 60.8% girls. In order to measure the variables, six assessment instruments, with adequate psychometric guarantees, were administered. Assessment included multi-informers (children, parents, tutors) and multi-techniques. The following assessment instruments were administered: the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT; Kaufman & Kaufman, 1997), Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC - Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004), Assessment of Psychomotricity in Preschoolers (EPP; De la Cruz & Mazaira, 1990), McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA; McCarthy, 2006), Assessment of Children's Self-concept Scale (EA; Garaigordobil, 2007), and the Human Figure Drawing (HFD; Koppitz, 1993). The cross-sectional study used a descriptive, comparative, and correlational methodology to establish relations of concomitance of intelligence with self-concept, psychomotricity, and behavioral and emotional factors. The results of the t-test (Student-Fisher's t) comparing the means did not reveal gender differences in verbal intelligence (Vocabulary), nonverbal intelligence (Matrixes), or total intelligence at this age level; neither did the capacity of abstract manipulative thinking (Cubes) reveal any differences. The Pearson correlation coefficients revealed positive relations of total intelligence with self-concept, with some psychomotor functions (coordination, corporal schema), and with emotional stability. Moreover, the participants with high levels of total intelligence had, according to the parents, low scores in atypical, somatization, and high scores in depression, whereas according to the teachers they had low levels of hyperactivity, atypical, anxiety, externalizing problems, and behavioral symptoms. The study contributes empirical evidence of the close connections between the diverse dimensions of early infant development, that is, intellectual, psychomotor, social, and affective-emotional development. These data have educational implications and suggest the promotion of global interventions at this developmental stage, both from the viewpoint of development and of therapeutic intervention.

Keywords : Intelligence; Psychomotricity; Self-concept; Behavioral problems; Preschool children.

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