Verbal and nonverbal behaviors of adolescents interacting in female-male dyads were examined for gender and context (i.e., topic of discussion) differences. Thirty dyads, comprised of unacquainted 15-year-olds, discussed a masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral task for 3 minutes each. The videotaped interactions were coded for verbal (questions, uncertainty, speaking time) and nonverbal (gestures, head/facial touches, smiling, gazing) behaviors. Codes also were developed for "display" behaviors that were hypothesized to differentiate girls and boys (chin strokes, hair flips, head tilts, coy looks, appearing smaller). On the verbal and nonverbal behaviors, girls and boys were more alike than different, although there were gender differences in speaking time (specific to context) and in smiling. Gender differences in four out of five display behaviors cut across context, with effect sizes in the medium to large range. Discussion focuses on developmental and contextual accounts of adolescents' interpersonal behaviors.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Archer, J.
, & McDonald, M. (1991). Gender roles and school subjects in adolescent girls. Educational Research, 33, 55-64.
2.
Aries, E. J.
(1982). Verbal and nonverbal behavior in single-sex and mixed-sex groups: Are traditional sex roles changing? Psychological Reports, 51, 127-134.
3.
Bem, S. L.
(1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155-162.
4.
Bem, S. L.
(1975a). Androgyny versus the tight little lives of fluffy women and chesty men. Psychology Today, 39, 58-62.
5.
Bem, S. L.
(1975b). Sex role adaptability: One consequence of psychological androgyny. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 634-643.
6.
Bem, S. L.
(1978). The short Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
7.
Bem, S. L.
, & Lenney, E. (1976). Sex-typing and the avoidance of cross-sex behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 48-54.
8.
Bem, S. L.
, Martyna, W., & Watson, C. (1979). Sex-typing and androgyny: Further exploration of the expressive domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 1016-1023.
9.
Benenson, J. F.
(1993). Greater preference among females than males for dyadic interaction in early childhood. Child Development, 64, 544-555.
10.
Berger, J.
, Wagner, D. G., & Zelditch, M., Jr. (1985). Introduction: Expectation states theory. In J. Berger & M. Zelditch, Jr. (Eds.), Status, rewards, and influence (pp. 1-72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
11.
Berman, P. W.
, & Smith, V. L. (1984). Gender and situational differences in children's smiles, touch, and proxemics. Sex Roles, 10, 347-356.
12.
Bibby, R. W.
, & Posterski, D. C. (1992). Teen trends: A nation in motion. Toronto, Ontario: Stoddart.
13.
Birdwhistell, R. L.
(1970). Kinesics in context: Essays on body motion communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
14.
Bischoping, K.
(1993). Gender differences in conversation topics, 1922-1990. Sex Roles, 28, 1-18.
15.
Caldera, Y. M.
, Huston, A. C., & O'Brien, M. (1989). Social interactions and play patterns of parents and toddlers with feminine, masculine, and neutral toys. Child Development, 60, 70-76.
16.
Carli, L. L.
(1989). Gender differences in interaction style and influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 565-576.
17.
Carli, L. L.
(1990). Gender, language, and influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 941-951.
18.
Cohen, J.
(1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press.
19.
DePaulo, B. M.
(1992). Nonverbal behavior and self-presentation. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 203-243.
20.
Diliberto, J.J.A.
(1992). A communication study of possible relationships between psychological sex type and decision-making effectiveness. Small Group Research, 23, 379-407.
21.
Dittman, A. T.
(1972). Interpersonal messages of emotion. New York: Springer.
22.
Dovidio, J. F.
, Brown, C. E., Heltman, K., Ellyson, S. L., & Keating, C. F. (1988). Power displays between women and men in discussions of gender-linked tasks: A multichannel study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 580-587.
23.
Eagly, A. H.
(1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
24.
Eagly, A. H.
, & Karau, S. J. (1991). Gender and the emergence of leaders: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 685-710.
25.
Erikson, E. H.
(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
26.
Fishman, P. M.
(1978). Interaction: The work women do. Social Problems, 25, 397-406.
27.
Frable, D.E.S.
(1989). Sex typing and gender ideology: Two facets of the individual's gender psychology that go together. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 95-108.
28.
Galambos, N. L.
, Almeida, D. M., & Petersen, A. C. (1990). Masculinity, femininity, and sex role attitudes in early adolescence: Exploring gender intensification. Child Development, 61, 1905-1914.
29.
Gallaher, P. E.
(1992). Individual differences in nonverbal behavior: Dimensions of style. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 133-145.
30.
Gfellner, B. M.
, & Hundleby, J. D. (1990). The status of Canadian research on adolescence: 1980-1987. Canadian Psychology, 31, 132-137.
31.
Givens, D.
(1978). The nonverbal basis of attraction: Flirtation, courtship, and seduction. Psychiatry, 41, 346-359.
32.
Grammer, K.
(1990). Strangers meet: Laughter and nonverbal signs of interest in opposite-sex encounters. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 14, 209-236.
33.
Halberstadt, A. G.
, Hayes, C. W., & Pike, K. M. (1988). Gender and gender role differences in smiling and communication consistency. Sex Roles, 19, 589-604.
34.
Hall, J. A.
(1984). Nonverbal sex differences: Communication accuracy and expressive style. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
35.
Hall, J. A.
, & Halberstadt, A. G. (1986). Smiling and gazing. In J. S. Hyde & M. C. Linn (Eds.), The psychology of gender: Advances through meta-analyses (pp. 136-158). Biltmore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
36.
Harter, S.
(1990). Developmental differences in the nature of self-representations: Implications for the understanding, assessment, and treatment of maladaptive behavior. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 113-142.
37.
Hartup, W. W.
, French, D. C., Laursen, B., Johnston, M. K., & Ogawa, J. R. (1993). Conflict and friendship relations in middle childhood: Behavior in a closed-field situation. Child Development, 64, 445-454.
38.
Henley, N. M.
(1977). Body politics: Power, sex, and nonverbal communication. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
39.
Hill, J. P.
, & Lynch, M. E. (1983). The intensification of gender-related role expectations during early adolescence. In J. Brooks-Gunn & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Girls at puberty: Biological and psychosocial perspectives (pp. 201-228). New York: Plenum.
40.
Hirschman, L.
(1973, December). Female-male differences in conversational interaction. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the Linguistic Society of America, San Diego, CA.
41.
Hoffman, L. W.
(1989). Effects of maternal employment in the two-parent family. American Psychologist, 44, 283-292.
42.
Ickes, W.
, & Barnes, R. D. (1978). Boys and girls together—and alienated: On enacting stereotyped sex roles in mixed-sex dyads. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 669-683.
43.
Kennedy, C. W.
, & Camden, C. (1983). Interruptions and nonverbal gender differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 8, 91-108.
44.
Keppel, G.
(1982). Design and analysis: A researcher's handbook. Hillsdale, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
45.
Lakoff, R.
(1975). Language and woman's place. New York: Harper & Row.
46.
Lamke, L. K.
(1982). The impact of sex role orientation on self-esteem in early adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1530-1535.
47.
Leaper, C.
(1987). Agency, communion, and gender as predictors of communication style and being liked in adult male-female dyads. Sex Roles, 16, 137-149.
48.
Leaper, C.
(1991). Influence and involvement in children's discourse: Age, gender, and partner effects. Child Development, 62, 797-811.
49.
Maccoby, E. E.
(1990). Gender and relationships: A developmental account. American Psychologist, 45, 513-520.
50.
Mackie, M.
(1983). Exploring gender relations: A Canadian perspective. Toronto: Butterworth.
51.
Maltz, D. N.
, & Borker, R. A. (1982). A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In J. J. Gumperz (Ed.), Language and social identity (pp. 196-216). New York: Cambridge University Press.
52.
Marche, T. A.
, & Peterson, C. (1993). The development and sex-related use of interruption behavior. Human Communication Research, 19, 388-408.
53.
Miller, P.
, Danaher, D., & Forbes, D. (1986). Sex-related strategies for coping with interpersonal conflict in children aged five and seven. Developmental Psychology, 22, 543-548.
54.
Moore, M. M.
(1985). Nonverbal courtship patterns in women: Context and consequences. Ethology and Sociobiology, 6, 237-247.
55.
Moore, M. M.
, & Butler, D. L. (1989). Predictive aspects of nonverbal courtship behavior in women. Semiotica, 76, 205-215.
56.
Mulac, A.
, Lundell, T. L., & Bradac, J. J. (1986). Male/female language differences and attributional consequences in a public speaking situation: Toward an explanation of the gender-linked language effect. Communication Monographs, 53, 115-129.
57.
Mulac, A.
, Wiemann, J. M., Widenmann, S. L., & Gibson, T. W. (1988). Male/female language differences in same-sex and mixed-sex dyads: The gender-linked language effect. Communication Monographs, 55, 315-335.
58.
Noller, P.
, & Callan, V. J. (1989). Nonverbal behavior in families with adolescents. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 13, 47-64.
59.
Poole, M. E.
(1979). Social class, sex and linguistic coding. Language and Speech, 22, 49-67.
60.
Roberts, L. R.
, Sarigiani, P. A., Petersen, A. C., & Newman, J. L. (1990). Gender differences in the relationship between achievement and self-image during early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 10, 159-175.
61.
Rosa, E.
, & Mazur, A. (1979). Incipient status in small groups. Social Forces, 58, 18-37.
62.
Rose, Y. J.
, & Tryon, W. W. (1979). Judgements of assertive behavior as a function of speech loudness, latency, content, gestures, inflection, and sex. Behavior Modification, 3, 112-123.
63.
Rosenberg, F. R.
, & Simmons, R. G. (1975). Sex differences in the self-concept in adolescence. Sex Roles, 1, 147-159.
64.
Rubin, D. L.
, & Nelson, M. W. (1983). Multiple determinants of stigmatized speech styles: Women's language, powerless language, or everyone's language? Language and Speech, 26, 273-290.
65.
Savin-Williams, R. C.
(1979). Dominance hierarchies in groups of early adolescents. Child Development, 50, 923-935.
66.
Seibert, S.
, & Gruenfeld L. (1992). Masculinity, femininity, and behavior in groups. Small Group Research, 23, 95-112.
67.
Sheldon, A.
(1990). Pickle fights: Gendered talk in preschool disputes. Discourse Processes, 13, 5-31.
68.
Sheldon, A.
(1992). Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic challenges to self-assertion and how young girls meet them. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38, 95-117.
69.
Stinson, L.
, & Ickes, W. (1992). Empathic accuracy in the interactions of male friends versus male strangers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 787-797.
70.
Tannen, D.
(1990). Gender differences in conversational coherence: Physical alignment and topical cohesion. In B. Dorval (Ed.), Conversational coherence and its development (pp. 167-206). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
71.
Thorne, A.
(1987). The press of personality: A study of conversations between introverts and extraverts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 718-726.
72.
Verdi, A. F.
, & Wheelan, S. A. (1992). Developmental patterns in same-sex and mixed-sex groups. Small Group Research, 23, 356-378.
73.
Vuchinich, S.
, Emery, R. E., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Family members as third parties in dyadic family conflict: Strategies, alliances, and outcomes. Child Development, 59, 1293-1302.
74.
Vuchinich, S.
, Vuchinich, R., & Coughlin, C. (1992). Family talk and parent-child relationships: Toward integrating deductive and inductive paradigms. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38, 69-93.
75.
Wentworth, D. K.
, & Anderson, L. R. (1984). Emergent leadership as a function of sex and task type. Sex Roles, 11, 513-524.
76.
Wood, W.
(1987). Meta-analytic review of sex differences in group performance. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 53-71.
77.
Wood, W.
, & Karten, S. J. (1986). Sex differences in interaction style as a product of perceived sex differences in competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 341-347.
