TextAge: A Curated and Diverse Text Dataset for Age Classification

Abstract: Age-related language patterns play a crucial role in understanding linguistic differences and developing age-appropriate communication strategies. However, the lack of comprehensive and diverse datasets has hindered the progress of research in this area. To address this issue, we present TextAge, a curated text dataset that maps sentences to the age and age group of the producer, as well as an underage (under 13) label. TextAge covers a wide range of ages and includes both spoken and written data from various sources such as CHILDES, Meta, Poki Poems-by-kids, JUSThink, and the TV show "Survivor." The dataset undergoes extensive cleaning and preprocessing to ensure data quality and consistency. We demonstrate the utility of TextAge through two applications: Underage Detection and Generational Classification. For Underage Detection, we train a Naive Bayes classifier, fine-tuned RoBERTa, and XLNet models to differentiate between language patterns of minors and young-adults and over. For Generational Classification, the models classify language patterns into different age groups (kids, teens, twenties, etc.). The models excel at classifying the "kids" group but struggle with older age groups, particularly "fifties," "sixties," and "seventies," likely due to limited data samples and less pronounced linguistic differences. TextAge offers a valuable resource for studying age-related language patterns and developing age-sensitive LLMs. The dataset's diverse composition and the promising results of the classification tasks highlight its potential for various applications, such as content moderation, targeted advertising, and age-appropriate communication. Future work aims to expand the dataset further and explore advanced modeling techniques to improve performance on older age groups.