Computer content analysis of sex differences in the language of children

The results of the analysis of language samples of 144 randomly selected children from the entire kindergarten class of the Ithaca, New York, school system showed that boys produced significantly more language than did the girls as well as significantly more references to “aggression” and “female” references.

Abstract

This study presents empirical procedures for the collection and content analysis of the oral language of kindergarten children. The analysis technique used material and machines available to most researchers. The results of the analysis of language samples of 144 randomly selected children from the entire kindergarten class of the Ithaca, New York, school system showed that boys produced significantly more language than did the girls as well as significantly more references to “aggression,” “self,” “time,” “space,” “quantity,” “fears,” “good,” “act of oral communication,” “negation,” and “affirmation,” and asked more questions of the examiner than did the girls. The girls made significantly more “female” references than did the boys. Implications for future research are discussed.