Do the Chinese blame poverty on ability or the system?

The most interesting articles that came to our attention this week

Increases in Self-identifying as Transgender Among US Adults, 2014–2022. Jean Twenge and colleagues examine trends in the percentage of American adults identifying as transgender. Analysing data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey for 2014–2022, they find that the percentage of 18–24 year olds identifying as transgender increased by a factor of five, despite no trend among those aged 35 and older.

Sex differences in 30 facets of the five factor model of personality in the large public (N = 320,128). Petri Kajonius and John Johnson examine sex differences in personality in a very large sample of Americans. Consistent with previous work, they find that women are higher than men on agreeableness (d = 0.58) and neuroticism (d = 0.40). They also find that men are higher than women on excitement-seeking and openness-intellect (d > 0.20).

General mental ability testing and adverse impact in the United Kingdom: a meta-analysis with more than two million observations. Jan Te Nijenhuis and colleagues carry out a meta-analysis of race differences in intelligence in the UK. Analysing data from dozens of samples on tens of thousands of individuals, they find that compared to whites, blacks score 0.65sd lower, South Asians score 0.33sd lower and Chinese score 0.15sd higher.

Average scores on intelligence tests for racial groups in the UK. d-scores indicate how many standard deviations each group’s average was from the white average. Negative values indicate that that the group’s average was higher.