Gender differences in infant communication and imitation

Gender differences in infant communication and imitation

Communication -- Sex differences

Infants -- Development -- Sex differences

Language acquisition -- Sex differences

Baran, Mary E.

2007

Aydlett, Lydia

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Communication is the means by which an individual relays some type of information, whether it is a need, a want, or a general explanation, to another individual. Infants have the ability to communicate from an early age through gestures and vocalizations. One way they learn and practice these communication techniques is through imitation. The current study looks at gender differences in infant communication and imitation. It was hypothesized that boys would initiate communication more often, boys would communicate using more gestures than girls while girls would communicate with more vocalizations than boys, and boys would be more likely to imitate gestures while girls would be more likely to imitate vocalizations. Communication and imitation behaviors of 31 ten-month old infants were coded from a video using a real time coding technique. Behaviors coded included the individual that initiated the communication (the infant or examiner), total vocalizations, total gestures, total imitated vocalizations, and total imitated gestures. Results show that there are no significant differences in the way infant boys and infant girls communicate. Overall, both infant boys and infant girls are more likely to use gestures to communicate and are more likely to imitate gestures.

2014-09-22

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