Gender Differences in Children’s Language: A Meta-Analysis of Slovenian Studies
Keywords:
meta-analysis, gender differences, language ability
Abstract
Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers’/children’s language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ability. The effect of gender on toddler’s, children’s and adolescents’ language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian studies (nine cross-sectional
studies and one longitudinal study). The ten studies were published between 2004 and 2016 and included a total of 3,657 toddlers, children and adolescents, aged from 8 months to 15 years. The language outcome measures refer to different aspects of language ability, including vocabulary, mean length of utterance, sentence complexity, language expression and
comprehension, storytelling ability and metalinguistic awareness. Across the studies, language ability was assessed using different approaches and instruments, most of which were standardised on samples of Slovenianspeaking children. Based on the reported arithmetic means and standard deviations, the effect sizes of gender for each of the included studies were
calculated, as well as the average effect size of gender across the different studies. The findings of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size of gender on toddlers’/children’s/adolescents’ language largely depended on their age and the aspect of language measured. The effect sizes increased with children’s increasing age. All significant effects proved to be in favour of girls. The findings were interpreted in relation to the characteristics of language development and social cultural factors that can contribute to
gender differences in language ability.
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References
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Marjanovič Umek, L., Božin, N., Čermak Hauko, N., Štiglic, N., Bajc, S., & Fekonja Peklaj, U. (2016). Early language development: Vocabulary comparison of Slovenian boys and girls. Sodobna
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Marjanovič-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2017). The role of child gender and parental knowledge of child development in parent-child interactive play. Sex Roles, 1-14. doi: 10.1007/s11199-016-0734-7.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Kranjc, S. (2004). Pripovedovanje zgodbe kot pristop za ugotavljanje otrokovega govornega razvoja [Storytelling as an approach to evaluate the child’s level of speech development]. Psihološka obzorja, 13(1), 43–64.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). The effect of children’s gender and parental education on toddler language development. European Early Childhood
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Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Podlesek, A. (2010). Razvoj pripovedovanja zgodbe v zgodnjem otroštvu [The development of storytelling in early childhood]. Psihološka obzorja, 19(4), 35–53.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., & Kranjc, S. (2011). Assessing toddler language ability: Agreement of parents’ and preschool teachers’ assessments. European Early
Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(1), 21–43.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). Lestvice splošnega govornega razvoja - LJ: (LSGR - LJ): priročnik [Scales of General Language Development – LJ: Manual.]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar L. (2011a). Ocenjevanje sporazumevalnih zmožnosti dojenčkov in malčkov: Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti:
besede in geste, Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti: besede in stavki [Assessing infants’ and toddlers’ communication skills: Communicative Development Inventory: Words and
Gestures, Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar L. (2011b). Splošni govorni preizkus, pisno sporočanje : SGP-PS [Test of General Language, Written Communication]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič-Umek, L., Fekonja-Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar, L. (2011c). Preizkus pripovedovanja zgodbe [Storytelling Test]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Kranjc, S., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Grgić K. (2007). Govor deklic in dečkov [Language of girls and boys]. Razprave, 20, 115–131.
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Simonsen, H. G., Kristoffersen, K. E., Bleses, D., Wehberg, S., & Jørgensen, R. N. (2014). The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and
gender differences. First Language, 34(1), 3–23.
Sommer, I. E. C., Aleman, A., Bouma, A., & Kahn, R. S. (2004). Do women really have more bilateral language representation than men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies. Brain, 127(8), 1845–1852.
Stennes, L. M., Burch, M. M., Sen, M. G., & Bauer, P. J. (2005). A longitudinal study of gendered vocabulary and communicative action in young children. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 75–88.
Wallentin, M. (2008). Putative sex differences in verbal abilities and language cortex: A critical review. Brain & Language, 108(3), 175–183.
Wehberg, S., Vach, W., Bleses, D., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. O., & Basboll, H. (2008). Girls talk about dolls and boys about cars? Analyses of group and individual variation in Danish children’s first words. First Language, 28(1), 71–85.
Barbu, S., Nardy, A., Chevrot, J.-P., Guellaï, B., Glas, L., Juhel, J., & Lemasson, A. (2015). Sex differences in language across early childhood: Family socioeconomic status does not impact boys
and girls equally. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1874. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01874.
Berk, L. E. (1997). Child development. Illinois: Allyn and Bacon.
Bornstein, M. H., & Haynes, O. M. (1998). Vocabulary competence in early childhood: Measurement, latent construct, and predictive validity. Child Development, 69(3), 654–671.
Bornstein, M. H., Cote, L. R., Maital, S., Painter, K., Par, S.-Y., Pascual L., Pêcheux, M.-G., Ruel, J., Venuti, P., & Vyt, A. (2004). Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: Spanish,
Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and American English, Child Development, 75(4), 1115–1139.
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, O. M., O’Reilly, W. A., & Painter, K. M. (1996). Solitary and collaborative pretence play in early childhood: Sources of individual variation in the development of
representational competence. Child Development, 67(6), 2910–2929.
Bouchard, C., Trudeau, N., Sutton, A., Boudreault, M.-C., & Deneault, J. (2009). Gender differences in language development in French Canadian children between 8 and 30 months of age. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(4), 685–707.
Clearfield, M. W., & Nelson, N. M. (2006). Sex differences in mothers’ speech and play behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-month-old infants. Sex Roles, 54(1/2), 127–137.
Cohen, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Routledge.
Crawford, M. (2001). Gender and language. In R. K. Unger (Ed.), Psychology of women and gender (pp. 228–244). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Eriksson, M., Marschik, P. B., Tulviste, T., Almgren, M., Pereira, M. P., Wehberg, S., Marjanovič-Umek, L., Gayraud, F., Kovačevič, M., & Gallego, C. (2012). Differences between girls and boys in
emerging language skills: Evidence from 10 language communities. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 30(2), 326–343.
Fekonja Peklaj, U., Marjanovič Umek, L., & Kranjc, S. (2005). Otrokov govorni razvoj v povezavi z njegovim spolom in izobrazbo staršev [Language development in early childhood in relation to child’s gender and parental education]. Psihološka obzorja, 14(1), 53–79.
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5), 174–185.
Galsworthy M. J., Dionne G., Dale P. S. & Plomin R. (2000). Sex differences in early verbal and nonverbal cognitive development. Developmental Science, 3(2), 206–215.
Gleason, J. B. (1987). Sex differences in parent–child interaction. In S. U. Philips, S. Steele & C. Tanz (Eds.), Language, gender, and sex in comparative perspective (pp. 189–199). Cambridge: University Press.
Golombok, S., & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. Cambridge: University Press.
Hammill, D. D., & Larsen, S. C. (1996). Test of Written Language-3 (TOWL-3). Austin, TX: ProEd, Inc. Hedges, L. V., & Nowell, A. (1995). Sex differences in mental test scores, variability, and numbers of high-scoring individuals. Science, 269(5220), 41–45.
Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27(2), 236–248.
Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (1988). Gender differences in verbal ability: A metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 104(1), 53–69.
Leaper, C., Andersson, K., & Sanders, P. (1998). Moderators of gender effects on parents’ talk to their children: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34(1), 3–27.
Lovas, G. S. (2011). Gender and patterns of language development in mother-toddler and fathertoddler dyads. First Language, 31(1), 83–108.
Lyytinen, P., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Laakso, M.-L. (1997). Language and symbolic play in toddlers. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(2), 289–302.
Marjanovič Umek, L. (2007). Diferenciacija v šoli: enako ali različno za različne otroke [Differentiation in school: The same or different for different children]. Sodobna pedagogika, 58(2),
108–127.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Božin, N., Čermak Hauko, N., Štiglic, N., Bajc, S., & Fekonja Peklaj, U. (2016). Early language development: Vocabulary comparison of Slovenian boys and girls. Sodobna
pedagogika, 67(1), 12–36.
Marjanovič-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2017). The role of child gender and parental knowledge of child development in parent-child interactive play. Sex Roles, 1-14. doi: 10.1007/s11199-016-0734-7.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Kranjc, S. (2004). Pripovedovanje zgodbe kot pristop za ugotavljanje otrokovega govornega razvoja [Storytelling as an approach to evaluate the child’s level of speech development]. Psihološka obzorja, 13(1), 43–64.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). The effect of children’s gender and parental education on toddler language development. European Early Childhood
Education Research Journal, 16(3), 325–342.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Podlesek, A. (2010). Razvoj pripovedovanja zgodbe v zgodnjem otroštvu [The development of storytelling in early childhood]. Psihološka obzorja, 19(4), 35–53.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., & Kranjc, S. (2011). Assessing toddler language ability: Agreement of parents’ and preschool teachers’ assessments. European Early
Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(1), 21–43.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). Lestvice splošnega govornega razvoja - LJ: (LSGR - LJ): priročnik [Scales of General Language Development – LJ: Manual.]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar L. (2011a). Ocenjevanje sporazumevalnih zmožnosti dojenčkov in malčkov: Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti:
besede in geste, Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti: besede in stavki [Assessing infants’ and toddlers’ communication skills: Communicative Development Inventory: Words and
Gestures, Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar L. (2011b). Splošni govorni preizkus, pisno sporočanje : SGP-PS [Test of General Language, Written Communication]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič-Umek, L., Fekonja-Peklaj, U., Sočan, G., & Komidar, L. (2011c). Preizkus pripovedovanja zgodbe [Storytelling Test]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Marjanovič Umek, L., Kranjc, S., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Grgić K. (2007). Govor deklic in dečkov [Language of girls and boys]. Razprave, 20, 115–131.
Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Pugh, K. R., Constable, R. T., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R. K., et al. (1995). Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature, 373(6515), 607–609.
Simonsen, H. G., Kristoffersen, K. E., Bleses, D., Wehberg, S., & Jørgensen, R. N. (2014). The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and
gender differences. First Language, 34(1), 3–23.
Sommer, I. E. C., Aleman, A., Bouma, A., & Kahn, R. S. (2004). Do women really have more bilateral language representation than men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies. Brain, 127(8), 1845–1852.
Stennes, L. M., Burch, M. M., Sen, M. G., & Bauer, P. J. (2005). A longitudinal study of gendered vocabulary and communicative action in young children. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 75–88.
Wallentin, M. (2008). Putative sex differences in verbal abilities and language cortex: A critical review. Brain & Language, 108(3), 175–183.
Wehberg, S., Vach, W., Bleses, D., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. O., & Basboll, H. (2008). Girls talk about dolls and boys about cars? Analyses of group and individual variation in Danish children’s first words. First Language, 28(1), 71–85.
Published
2017-06-30
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