Title
Measurement-Invariant Fluid Anti-Flynn Effects in Population—Representative German Student Samples (2012–2022)
Author
Sabine Patzl
International Student Assessment (ZIB), TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich
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Abstract
Generational IQ test scores in the general population were observed to increase over time (i.e., the Flynn effect) across most of the 1900s. However, according to more recent reports, Flynn effect patterns have seemingly become less consistent. So far, most available evidence on this phenomenon has been categorized by drawing on the classic fluid vs. crystallized intelligence taxonomy. However, recent evidence suggests that subdomain-specific trajectories of IQ change may well be more complex. Here, we present evidence for cross-temporal changes in measurement-invariant figural reasoning tasks in three large-scale, population-representative samples of German secondary school students (total N = 19,474). Analyses revealed a consistent pattern of significant and meaningful declines in performance from 2012 to 2022. Results indicate a decrease in figural reasoning of 4.68 to 5.17 IQ points per decade (corresponding to small-to-medium effects, Cohen ds from 0.34 to 0.38). These findings may be interpreted as tentative evidence for a decreasing strength of the positive manifold of intelligence as a potential cause of the increasing number of recent reports about inconsistent IQ change trajectories.
Keywords
Flynn effectfigural reasoningmeasurement invariancepsychometric gCattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) intelligence modelcognitive abilitiesmulti-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA)secondary school students
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2045503
Appeared in
Title
Journal of Intelligence
Volume
12
Issue
1
ISSN
2079-3200
Issued
2024
From page
9
Publisher
MDPI AG
Date issued
2024
Access rights
Rights statement
© 2024 by the authors
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