Sex and Gender Differences in Language Impairment, Disability, and Service Receipt: Views of children and their caregivers
Year: 2025
Type: other
Abstract: Community research samples reveal near parity in the ratio of boys to girls who meet criteria for developmental language disorder (DLD); however, in 2020-21, US school SLPs served twice as many boys as girls. Our primary goal is to determine why girls (specifically children who perceive themselves as being typical of girls) are less likely to receive language services than boys. The service gap could reflect legitimate differences in need: Their tendency to demonstrate high effortful control may enable girls to stave off the disabling consequences of language impairment such that fewer girls need services, or they need later or different services than boys. Alternatively, the gap could reflect inequities in access to health care. The gendered beliefs and practices that characterize families, communities, and societal institutions may encourage masking, lessen concerns about girls, or heighten concerns about boys. In this subproject, we pursue two goals: 1. To explain the relationship between language disability and temperament and determine whether this relationship varies by gender typicality. We will use a sequential explanatory design. In Phase 1, we will use regression models to determine whether girls are less or differently disabled than boys, and whether the extent of disability relates to effortful control. In Phase 2, we will interview children and parents to probe the role of high effortful control and other aspects of temperament as compensatory mechanisms. 2. To determine the extent to which child internalizing behavior and child and caretaker gender bias affect service receipt and whether these relationships vary by gender. We will use a sequential explanatory design. In Phase 1, we will use regression models to determine whether child internalization and caregiver gender bias are associated with delayed services for girls. In Phase 2, we will interview parents to document their initial concerns about their child’s language development, the timing between initial concern and help-seeking, and the role of internalization and other potential masking behaviors on the part of boys and girls in motivating or discouraging help-seeking.
Source: Open Science Framework
Institution: Boys Town
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7124289888