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dc.titleSex-Differences in Language and Socio-emotional Skills in Early Childhood
dc.contributor.authorBando, Rosangela
dc.contributor.authorLopez Boo, Florencia
dc.contributor.authorLi, Xia
dc.contributor.orgunitOffice of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness
dc.contributor.orgunitSocial Protection and Health Division
dc.coverageNicaragua
dc.coverageChile
dc.coverageLatin America
dc.date.available2016-08-16T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2016-07-28T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractThis study explores sex differences in language and socio-emotional skills. It focuses on children 7 months old to 6 years old in Chile in 2012 and Nicaragua in 2013. A focus on young children allowed for ruling out a set of environmental and identity effects to explain the gap. Females had an advantage in both countries and both dimensions. Males in Chile scored at -0.13 standard deviations (SD) in language in the distribution of females. In addition, males scored at -0.20 SD in socio-emotional skills. The gaps in Nicaragua were not statistically different to those in Chile. Thus geographical and cultural variation across the two countries did not affect the gap. Within countries, variation in family characteristics, parenting practices and health investments did not explain the gap either. These findings shed light on the role of biological and environmental factors to explain sex gaps. The identification of the role of these factors is necessary to inform policy.
dc.format.extent42
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0011759
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Sex-Differences-in-Language-and-Socio-emotional-Skills-in-Early-Childhood.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectEarly Childhood Development
dc.subjectLanguage Development
dc.subjectGender Gap
dc.subjectChild Development
dc.subjectEarly Childhood Education
dc.subjectSocio-Emotional Skill
dc.subject.jelcodeI25 - Education and Economic Development
dc.subject.jelcodeJ13 - Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth
dc.subject.jelcodeJ16 - Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination
dc.subject.jelcodeO15 - Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration
dc.subject.jelcodeZ13 - Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology • Social and Economic Stratification
dc.subject.keywordssocio-emotional skills;language development
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberWorking Papers
idb.operationNI-L1059
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