Digit ratios were not found to be significant for the group as a whole but there were sex based differences whereby lower digit ratios predicted numeracy for boys and higher digit ratios predicted higher literary SAT scores for girls – though in both cases the effects were small. Others have studied British school children’s digit ratios and their correlations with their numeracy and literacy. Romano found that adult males’ 2D:4D ratios positively predicted examination grades while females’ marks were uncorrelated with these ratios. There is some limited work on the relationship between 2D:4D and academic performance but the findings are mixed and often based on limited samples. Ties to academic achievement are even less well-explored. What seems to persist are the links to sporting ability and to risk taking and financial trading mentioned above. However, the most recent large surveys do not support robust, within-sex correlations between 2D:4D and the masculinity/femininity personality dimensions and only small effects for 2D:4D and aggression. – for sports – for risk and on financial trading). Previous work has shown links between digit ratios and success in competitive sports, preference for risk, and success in high frequency financial trading (e.g. The most common marker for measuring prenatal androgens is the second-to-fourth finger digit length ratio (henceforth 2D:4D) with relatively longer fourth fingers (lower 2D:4D) indicating higher fetal androgens. Some of these characteristics may derive partly from prenatal exposure to androgenic steroids. These include aggressiveness or self-confidence, conscientiousness, and/or willingness to take risks. Performance in schooling is known to be dependent on cognitive ability, family background, and social status, but it is also heavily influenced by biological and psychological traits independent of or even orthogonal to standard notions of cognitive ability. Drawing from unusually large and detailed samples of university students in two countries not studied in the digit literature, our work is the first to have a large cross country comparison that includes two groups with very different ethnic compositions. The results seem to be asymmetric between Moscow and Manila where the right (left) hand generates inverted-U (U-shaped) curves in Moscow while the pattern for hands reverses in Manila. These effects are different depending on the field of study, choice of achievement measure, and use of the right hand or left digit ratios. We also find that there is a gender differentiated link between various measures of academic achievement and measured digit ratios. We provide the first evidence of a non-linear, quadratic, relationship between 2D:4D and academic achievement using samples from Moscow and Manila. Moreover, the predicted effect of exposure to prenatal testosterone (T)–which is inversely correlated with the relative length of the second to fourth finger lengths (2D:4D)–would seem to have ambiguous effects on academic achievement since traits like aggressiveness or risk-taking are not uniformly positive for success in school. However, there is still relatively limited evidence on its effects on academic performance. Exposure to prenatal androgens affects both future behavior and life choices.
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