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Sex differences in language competence of 3- to 6-year-old children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2016

BENJAMIN P. LANGE ,
HARALD A. EULER  and
EUGEN ZARETSKY
BENJAMIN P. LANGE*
Affiliation:
Julius Maximilian University of Wuerzburg
HARALD A. EULER
Affiliation:
University of Vienna
EUGEN ZARETSKY
Affiliation:
Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Benjamin P. Lange, Department of Media Psychology, Institute for Human-Computer-Media, Faculty of Human Sciences, Julius Maximilian University of Wuerzburg, Oswald-Kuelpe-Weg 82, Wuerzburg D-97074, Germany. E-mail: benjamin.lange@uni-wuerzburg.de
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Abstract

For decades, developmental research has involved the study of sex differences in language acquisition. Many studies of these differences have found a slight advantage in competence for females early in life that seems to wane with age. However, because most of these studies have focused on sex differences in mean values, they have mostly neglected sex differences in variance with males being more variable. In the current study, we examined sex differences in language competence in terms of mean values and variance in large samples (N > 10,000) of German children aged 3–6 years. We administered several tests to assess the children's vocabulary, grammar, speech comprehension, pronunciation, and the processing of sentences and nonce words. Girls performed better than boys in all domains, most often to a statistically significant degree, although the effect sizes were small. Differences decreased with age. Boys varied significantly more than girls in their language competence. In response, we discuss explanations for these findings, as well as recommend directions for future research.

Type
Articles
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Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , November 2016 , pp. 1417 - 1438
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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