The Myth of Women's Advantage in Using Child-Directed Speech: Evidence of Women versus Men in Single-Sex-Parent Families

Autor/inn/en	Grinberg, Dana; Levin-Asher, Bonnie; Segal, Osnat
Titel	The Myth of Women's Advantage in Using Child-Directed Speech: Evidence of Women versus Men in Single-Sex-Parent Families
Quelle	In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65 (2022) 11, S.4205-4227 (23 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Segal, Osnat)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1092-4388
Schlagwörter	Interpersonal Communication; Speech Communication; Gender Differences; Parent Child Relationship; Homosexuality; Toddlers; Speech Acts; Language Usage; Parents; Child Rearing; Individual Characteristics; Environmental Influences; Foreign Countries; Israel + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Interpersonale Kommunikation; Geschlechterkonflikt; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Homosexualität; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Sprechakt; Sprachgebrauch; Eltern; Kindererziehung; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Environmental influence; Umwelteinfluss; Ausland
Abstract	Purpose: Differences between child-directed speech (CDS) by women and men are generally explained by either biological-evolutionary or gender-social theories. It is difficult to tease these two explanations apart for different-sex-parent families because women are usually also the main caregivers. Thus, this study aims to examine the influence of parental sex on CDS by investigating men and women who are in same-sex-parent families. Method: Twenty same-sex-parent families participated in the study--10 families in which the parents were two men and 10 families in which the parents were two women. The families were matched for toddler age (range: 9-24 months) and sex. CDS was recorded using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) device for 16 hr during a day. Each parent was also audio-recorded during a 30-min play session with his or her child. Results: No difference was found between men and women across all the LENA measures, namely, adult word count, conversational turns count, and child vocalization count. The analysis of speech samples during parent-child play showed no difference between men and women in mean length of utterance and number of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Pragmatic speech acts of initiations, responses to infants' actions, or vocalizations were similar in both sexes. Women used more "teaching" utterances than men, and men who were main caregivers used more "teaching" utterances than men who were secondary caregivers. Across both sexes, secondary caregivers used more "requests for actions" compared to main caregivers. Conclusions: The present findings support a functional-social approach and not a biological approach for explaining the use of CDS by men and women. These findings have clinical implications on the involvement of men in early intervention programs. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: slhr@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.pubs.asha.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01