The Influence of Gender on the Environmental Cognition of Young Boys and Girls

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Abstract
There is considerable evidence for pronounced sex-related differences in the spatial behavior of young children. It was expected that such disparity would influence the cognitive mapping abilities of boys and girls. This study investigated whether gender influences a child's awareness of place and capability to represent space. A sample of 172 children between the ages of 6 and 11 drew a map of their home area by free-recall cartography. The analysis examined both the quantitative accretion of environmental knowledge and the qualitative structural changes associated with the internalization of environmental information. The results revealed that from a young age, boys showed a broader understanding of space, recalling places much further away from home than did girls. Their maps were more complex and demonstrated a good grasp of spatial relationships. Both in terms of cartographic competence and map accuracy, strong gender-related differences were apparent, indicating that by age 11, boys had already achieved a higher level of spatial competence. In conclusion, it is suggested that the different ways in which boys and girls come into contact with the environment seems to have important ramifications for the development of their environmental cognitive abilities.

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