Interruption analysis by male and female participants in Jubilee's middle ground "pro-life women vs. pro-choice men" video discussion

The study is aimed at analyzing interruptions used between male and female participants in Jubilee's Middle Ground “Pro-Life Women vs. Pro-Choice Men” video discussion. The discussion provides a unique context to observe how gender influences interruption styles during discussion on sensitive issues in an unscripted setting. The study addresses four main questions: (1) what types of interruptions are used by male participants in the discussion; (2) what types of interruptions are used by female participants in the discussion; (3) what are the comparisons of interruption made by male and female participants in the discussion; and (4) what are the functions of participants’ interruptions in the discussion. A qualitative descriptive method was applied to provide a clear, detailed exploration and systematic explanation of the phenomena being examined. The data were collected by accessing Jubilee’s YouTube channel and selecting the Middle Ground video titled “Pro-Life Women vs. Pro-Choice Men.” The researcher watched the video to understand the context, then used the available YouTube transcript and verified its accuracy against the actual dialogue. Interruptive utterances were annotated and color-coded, blue for male participants and pink for female participants, for analysis. The result shows that female participants were more likely to interrupt than male participants. All four types of interruptions, simple, overlap, butting-in, and silent, were found in female speech, while male participants only used three types, excluding silent interruptions. Among all types, overlap interruption appeared most frequently, indicating a tendency for participants to interject while others were still speaking. The primary function of these interruptions, for both genders, is to express disagreement, reflecting the argumentative nature of the discussion. These findings suggest that a greater sense of familiarity with the topic may contribute to the higher frequency and specific use of interruptions, particularly among female participants.