Gender differences and similarities in dominance hierarchies in same-gender groups based on speaking time

This study aimed at investigating whether all-women and all-men groups diff ered in their hierarchical organization and stability of their rank orders across time. One hundred and sixteen European, middle-class, noncollege wom en and men (average age: 38) participated in small-group discussions twice within a week with the same group members. Speaking time served as the beha vioral dominance indicator oil which group hierarchies were based. Addition ally,, group members rank ordered each other on dominance after each intera ction. In the first session, all-men groups were more hierarchically struct ured than all-women groups. During each session, all-women and all men grou ps showed a similar significant increase in hierarchical structuring. For b oth women and men, rank orders remained stable during interactions and from the first to the second session. Results are discussed in terms of three t heoretical models describing dominance hierarchies.