Girls tend to mature a little faster than boys, developing language skills sooner and giving them the edge over boys in reading, writing, and speech. While boys are lagging behind girls on writing assignments, they are often ahead in math and science.
Boy Brains and Girl Brains
The hippocampus -- a region of the brain critical to verbal memory storage -- develops earlier for girls and is larger in women than in men. "That has a profound effect on vocabulary and writing," Gurian says.
There is a common myth among parents that boys tend to develop slower than girls. But is it true? Generally speaking, the answer is no. While girls and boys might develop certain skills on different timelines, the differences likely are not because of gender alone.
Physical growth
There aren't notable differences between the sexes until late elementary school – that's when girls start to grow taller faster, although boys catch up and exceed them within a few years.
Researchers have found few differences between boys and girls in brain structure or function. Boys have larger brains, and girls' brains finish growing earlier than boys' do.
Girls physically mature faster than boys on a physical level as well due to the quicker process of puberty. Girls undergo puberty earlier than boys by about 1-2 years, and generally finish the stages of puberty quicker than males due to their differences in biology.
By most measures of sensory and cognitive development, girls are slightly more advanced: vision, hearing, memory, smell, and touch are all more acute in female than male infants.
However, a 2018 Gallup poll found that 54% of Americans said boys were easier to raise than girls, while only 27% said girls were easier, and 14% said there was no difference.
In terms of absolute strength – that is, without regard for body size, weight or composition – the average man tends to be considerably stronger than the average woman. Specifically, the absolute total- body strength of women has been reported as being roughly 67% that of men.
However, a 2018 Gallup poll found that 54% of Americans said boys were easier to raise than girls, while only 27% said girls were easier, and 14% said there was no difference. Some research suggests girls are better communicators in the younger years, but this may change later on.
Yet both are wrong: Studies show no significant differences between boys and girls when it comes to these motor skills in infancy. Both sexes generally start walking independently after turning 1, often around month 14. Still, some parents believe boys start sooner.
Studies show that girls tend to speak earlier and use more complex language than boys do. The discrepancy may arise from different levels of a protein in the brain, a new study in rats suggests. Scientists have long debated the extent and origin of gender differences in language.
On average, girls begin puberty at ages 10–11 and complete puberty at ages 15–17; boys generally begin puberty at ages 11–12 and complete puberty at ages 16–17. The major landmark of puberty for females is menarche, the onset of menstruation, which occurs on average between ages 12 and 13.
Now, an anthropological study of gender division of labour across different societies has revealed that women work harder than men. The results of the study, published in the magazine. "Dispersing at marriage generates a disadvantage in bargaining over workload," the study said.
Boys tend to develop language skills a little later than girls, but in general, kids may be labeled "late-talking children" if they speak less than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months, or fewer than 50 words by 21 to 30 months of age.
In a survey of more than 500 parents by financial resource site MoneyTips released exclusively to MarketWatch, parents say it's the girls that cost you more. They estimate it costs, on average, an additional $2,160 a year to raise a daughter versus a son through age 18.
About 40% of parents, across the decades, have told researchers that if they could only have one child, they would want a boy. Only a consistent 20% to 30% has chosen a girl or no preference. At least when it comes to what we think we want, the data is clear.
Moms who have girls are much happier than those with boys, particularly when the children reach early adulthood, according to a study from the Journal of Family Issues. However, a survey done by Gallup says: 54% of Americans say boys are easier to raise than girls. 27% say girls are easier to raise than boys.
Gender differences in depression are well established, and studies have found that biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to the disparity. But research also shows that women are more likely to experience intense positive emotions — such as joy and happiness — compared to men.
Baby boys have higher levels of testosterone than girls and lower levels of serotonin, which causes them to be more easily stressed and harder to calm down.
On average, baby girls are a month ahead of boys in the number of words they understand . This may be because newborn girls are more developed on the side of the brain that's responsible for speech and language . However, the way we learn to talk is complex, and all babies will develop at different speeds.
It is true that boys produce their first words and sentences later than girls. However, these differences are only in terms of a matter of a few months. There is a normal range within which children acquire certain language milestones.
Newborn boys have higher rates of infection, sepsis, and have poorer survival compared to their female counterparts. The cause of the difference in newborns can be found in the chromosomes, with females carrying two copies of the X chromosome (XX), and males who carry one X and one Y chromosome (XY).