Understanding individual differences in audiovisual child-directed language: The role of empathy and personality traits

This study explores individual differences in broadcasters’ use
of child-directed prosody and gesture, focusing on the role of
empathy and the Big Five personality traits. Forty-two female
future broadcasters simulated live broadcasts for both adults
(ADB) and children (CDB) programmes. Prosodic and gestural
analyses showed several key findings. First, openness
negatively predicted speaking rate, while empathy positively
predicted the rate of representational gestures. Mean intensity
was positively predicted by empathy but negatively by
agreeableness in CDB. Additionally, the saliency of pointing
gestures was positively influenced by empathy and
conscientiousness. Furthermore, participants varied in
adjustments between programmes. Compared to ADB, in CDB,
prosodically, higher empathy and neuroticism but lower
extraversion predicted faster speech; higher empathy,
extraversion and lower openness predicted higher pitch; and
higher empathy and extraversion, along with lower openness
and agreeableness, predicted higher intensity. Gesturally,
higher-empathetic participants produced more salient pointing
and beats, while more extroverted participants made more
salient representational gestures in CDB. Notably, the
frequency of child-directed representational gestures negatively
correlated with neuroticism. The findings highlight the role of
individual differences in tailoring audiovisual child-directed
communication, with implications for broadcaster training.