Teen reading skills may explain college gender gap

Teen boys’ poor reading skills and social attitudes about women attending college can help explain why fewer young men enroll in college and other post-high-school education, researchers report.

“Reading scores are important for both boys and girls, and we know that girls, on average, score better on reading tests,” says study coauthor David Geary, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri.

“Here, we studied a snapshot of reading achievements for boys and girls when they were 15 years old,” he says. “And with an understanding of how social attitudes are in various countries about girls going to