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Massive study reveals truth about gender differences in daily speech
TUCSON, Ariz. — People are speaking about 3,000 fewer words each day compared to less than two decades ago, according to a new study that also settles long-standing questions about gender differences in daily conversation.
Between 2005 and 2018, researchers found the average number of daily spoken words dropped from 16,000 to around 13,000 — a decline that appears linked to our increasing reliance on digital communication tools like texting and social media. “We did a full analysis looking at what year the data were collected and found that, indeed, 300 spoken words on average per year go missing,” explains study co-lead author Valeria Pfeifer of the University of Arizona, in a statement.
This striking decline in verbal communication has prompted researchers to examine more closely how much people actually talk, and whether common assumptions about gender differences in speech hold up to scientific scrutiny. For decades, the idea that women talk more than men has been treated almost like common knowledge, appearing in everything from ancient proverbs to modern self-help books. Through an analysis of 631,030 recordings from 2,197 participants across four countries, the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reveals who’s really gabbing the most.
“There is a strong cross-cultural assumption that women talk a lot more than men,” notes Colin Tidwell, the study’s co-lead author and clinical psychology doctoral candidate, in a statement. “We wanted to see whether or not this assumption holds when empirically tested.”
The numbers show that women do speak slightly more on average — about 13,349 words per day compared to men’s 11,950. This modest difference of 1,073 words is small compared to the vast individual variation in daily speech, which ranges from fewer than 100 to over 120,000 words per day.
More revealing is how this gender difference varies across life stages. Researchers divided participants into age groups: adolescents (10-17), emerging adults (18-24), early/middle adults (25-64), and older adults (65+). Only one group showed a significant disparity. Adults between 25 and 64 years old exhibited the largest gender gap, with women speaking approximately 21,845 words per day compared to men’s 18,570.
“Gender-linked differences in child rearing and family care are one possibility that could account for this difference,” explains senior author Matthias Mehl, a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. “If biological factors like hormones were to be the main cause, a sizeable gender difference should have also been present among emerging adults. If societal generational changes were to be the driving force, there should have been a gradually increasing gender difference with older participants. Neither, though, was the case.”
The declining trend in overall speech has broader implications for human health and well-being. Social interaction through conversation plays a crucial role in mental and physical health, similar to exercise or sleep. In response, researchers are developing new tools like a “SocialBit” device — similar to a Fitbit — that would measure daily conversation time without recording content.
“I’m fascinated by the idea that we know how much we need to sleep, we know how much we need to exercise, and people are wearing Fitbits all the time, but we have no idea how much we’re supposed to socialize,” Mehl says. “The evidence is very strong that socializing is linked to health, at least to the same extent as physical activity and sleep are. It’s just another health behavior.”
Paper Summary
Methodology
Researchers used a clever tool called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) to capture naturalistic audio samples from participants’ daily lives. This device periodically recorded short snippets of ambient sound as people went about their normal routines, providing an unobtrusive way to measure real-world speech patterns. Participants wore the EAR for multiple days, generating hundreds of thousands of 30-second audio clips that were later transcribed and analyzed for word count.
Results
The study found an average gender difference of 1,073 words per day, with women speaking slightly more than men. However, this difference was not consistent across age groups. The largest gap appeared among adults aged 25-64, while other age groups showed minimal differences. Notably, individual variation was enormous, with daily word counts ranging from under 100 to over 120,000 words regardless of gender.
Limitations
The study primarily sampled participants from Western countries and couldn’t capture workplace conversations due to privacy constraints. Additionally, despite the large sample size, statistical uncertainty remained high for some analyses, particularly when breaking down results by age group. The research also focused exclusively on spoken words, not accounting for written communication or non-verbal expression.
Discussion and Takeaways
This research challenges both extremes of the gender and speech debate – neither confirming stereotypes about women being dramatically more talkative nor supporting claims of complete gender equality in verbal behavior. Instead, it suggests a nuanced reality where modest average differences exist but are heavily influenced by social context and life stage. The findings point toward social and cultural explanations rather than purely biological ones.
Funding and Disclosures
The project received funding from multiple sources including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Psychological Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Mind and Life 1440 award, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Serbia.
Publication Information
Published online in January 2025 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study, titled “Are Women Really (Not) More Talkative Than Men? A Registered Report of Binary Gender Similarities/Differences in Daily Word Use,” was authored by Colin A. Tidwell and colleagues from multiple institutions worldwide.
