Sex differences in language competence of 4-year-old children: Female advantages are mediated by phonological short-term memory

Abstract

For some time now, psycholinguistic research has involved the study of sex differences in language development. Overall, girls seem to have an early advantage over boys, mainly in regard to vocabulary, which appears to decrease and, eventually, vanish with age. While there are numerous studies on sex differences in the acquisition of vocabulary as well as grammar, early sex differences in phonological short-term memory (PSTM) have been mostly neglected, or if research was conducted, it resulted in null findings, for the most part. In the present study, we examined sex differences in language competence (in a wide array of linguistic domains) of German children 4 years of age. Several tests were administered to assess articulation, vocabulary, grammar, speech comprehension, and, most importantly, PSTM (by means of the repetition of non-words and sentences). Girls performed better than boys in all domains, although some effect sizes were small. Most importantly, we found evidence for a female advantage in PSTM performance. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the obtained sex differences in articulation, vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension were partially or fully mediated by (sex differences in) PSTM.

Language-Specific Non-Words for the Assessment of Working Memory: Dealing With Bilingual Children

“…The same is valid for the correlations between NWRT results and questionnaire items on the quality and quantity of the language input (see Table 1). Indeed, numerous intra- and extralinguistic variables, such as length and phonological complexity of test items (Cilibrasi et al, 2018), children’s biological sex (Lange & Zaretsky, 2021), and familial socioeconomic status (Korecky-Kröll et al, 2019), just to name a few, contribute to the performance on NWRT. Obviously, bilingualism is only one of many factors influencing the results of working memory tests.…”

A Review Study About Gender Differences in Expressive Language: Spoken And Written Language Differences

“…Moreover, it would be more inclusive to reveal studies examining gender differences in language on both the content and the linguistic level. Current literature does not generally encompass both; some studies focused on gender differences only on the linguistic level (Lange & Zaretsky, 2021), and some other studies demonstrated gender differences only in emotional content (Svane et al, 2022). To reach a more precise and more generalizable conclusion about gender differences in language, either linguistic variables or content variables such as emotional expression, all studies should be summarized, and a conclusion should be drawn based on the findings.…”

Diferencias de género en el rendimiento lector de preescolares que asisten a escuelas vulnerables

“…En relación con las diferencias en el rendimiento lector según el género de los estudiantes, los hallazgos sugieren que estas diferencias comienzan desde edades tempranas (Lange & Zaretsky, 2021) y que las niñas alcanzan mayores puntajes que los niños (O' Dea et al, 2018). Sin embargo, la evidencia no es convergente, ya que algunos estudios señalan que tales desigualdades en el rendimiento no existen (Gallego Ortega et al, 2019).…”

“…Sin embargo, la evidencia no es convergente, ya que algunos estudios señalan que tales desigualdades en el rendimiento no existen (Gallego Ortega et al, 2019). Gran parte de las investigaciones se ha centrado en el vocabulario y en estudiantes desde segundo año básico, pero en menor medida existen hallazgos que apunten a las brechas de género en la adquisición de habilidades lectoras tempranas, como la conciencia fonológica (Lange & Zaretsky, 2021) y la conciencia de lo impreso, así como también es escasa la evidencia relacionada con estudiantes preescolares.…”