Preschool children pay attention to their addressees: Effects of gender composition on peer disputes

The aim of this study was to examine whether preschool children take the gender of the addressee into account when disputing during peer exchanges. There are mixed findings on whether young children take their listeners into account (termed audience design); very little is known about whether the gender of the addressee is an influential variable on children's use of language, particularly during disputes. It was hypothesized that preschool children would alter their language use in mixed‐sex groups more than in same‐sex groups, based on findings that show gender‐typed behavior to be more predominant in same‐sex than mixed‐sex interactions. Preschool‐age children were videorecorded during seminaturalistic peer group triadic sessions in which children played with small toys at a table. Children's disputes (n = 195) were coded for their discourse content and structure. The results showed that both boys and girls modified their language use in mixed‐sex groups. Boys used fewer commands when more girls were present, and girls used more contradictions in mixed‐sex than same‐sex groups. These and other results are discussed in terms of how they contribute to the literature on children's language use and the role of gender.