Sex Differences in Early Communication Skills: Age and Domain as Moderators

Research on sex differences in early communication development has yielded inconsistent findings, raising questions regarding developmental significance and stability. The present study examined sex across six domains of communication development among 204 Hebrew-speaking infants and toddlers aged 0 to 36 months. Children were assessed using the Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale, a multidimensional instrument that integrates parent report, direct observation, and structured assessment to evaluate Interaction-Attachment, Pragmatics, Gesture, Play, Language Comprehension, and Language Expression. Analyses of the full sample revealed no significant sex differences in overall developmental age or in any of the communication domains. However, age-specific analyses revealed a more nuanced pattern. After chronological age was controlled for, girls aged 12 to 18 months demonstrated higher developmental performance than boys in Interaction-Attachment, Gesture, Language Comprehension, and Language Expression. No sex differences were observed in Pragmatics or Play. Furthermore, these differences were not evident before 12 months of age and disappeared after 18 months. The findings suggest that sex differences in early communication are small, transient, and domain-specific rather than generalized across communication abilities. More broadly, the results support developmental perspectives emphasizing the dynamic and interconnected nature of early communication development and highlight the value of multidimensional approaches for understanding developmental variability during the first 3 years of life.