← All research

2025 · Letter · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

No compelling evidence of sex differences in brain maturation during COVID-19 lockdowns when the sexes are compared statistically

Andrew W Brown; Simon Chung; Timothy Koscik; Colby J Vorland; Donna L Maney

Reassesses reported sex differences in brain maturation during COVID-19 lockdowns and argues that direct statistical comparison does not provide compelling evidence for the claimed difference.

Open-science resources

Resource verification & source notes
  • Free full text (PMC): The complete article body was retrieved from the public NCBI PMC JATS endpoint. This confirms free access; reuse permissions depend on the individual article license.
  • Reanalysis code: Live public OSF file inventory contains: calculate_avg_brain_age_acceleration_apply_model_bootstrap_re.py; initialization.py; calculate_brain_age_acceleration_re.py; re_analysis.ipynb.
  • Earlier preprint: Matched title / source version grouping.

Publication details

Research themes

Statistical rigor

neuroscience · sex-differences · public-health

Author affiliations & identifiers
  • Andrew W Brown: Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205.; Arkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202. · ORCID 0000-0002-1758-8205
  • Simon Chung: Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205.; Arkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202.
  • Timothy Koscik: Arkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202.; Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205.
  • Colby J Vorland: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47403. · ORCID 0000-0003-4225-372X
  • Donna L Maney: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.

Versions & associated materials

These items belong to this research work. Their individual titles, author lists, and source identifiers are preserved below.

No compelling evidence of sex differences in brain maturation during COVID-19 lockdowns when the sexes are compared statistically

Project · 2025 · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)

Colby J. Vorland; Andrew W. Brown; Timothy Richard Koscik; Simon Chung; Donna Maney

Failing to test for sex differences can result in wrong conclusions: example of the Difference in Sex-Specific Significance error in a reanalysis of brain maturation during COVID-19 lockdowns

Poster · 2025 · Pediatric Academic Societies

Brown AW; Chung S; Koscik TR; Vorland CJ; Maney DL

Preprint & version links

Related materials

Metadata sources: PubMed, OpenAlex, CV, Google Scholar. Classification is an editorial interpretation of the title, abstract, and supplied CV.