Bridging the Gap: Parent-Child Play Interaction and Peer Interactive Competence

Abstract

A multimeasure, multicontext study of the relationship between father-child and mother-child play and children's competence with preschool peers was conducted. 13 boys and 14 girls, ages 3-4 years, and their parents participated. Children were videotaped while playing with each parent separately for 20 min in their homes. Children's social competence with their peers was independently evaluated by 3 measures: (1) rankings of preschool teachers of popularity with peers, (2) Q-sort ratings of children's competence by their teachers, and (3) assessments of social interaction with 3 different preschool peers on separate occasions. Differential patterns of maternal and paternal behavior were associated with the social competence of boys and girls. Paternal physical play, engagement, and maternal verbal behavior were positively related to children's peer relations, especially for boys. Paternal directiveness was negatively related to popularity for boys and girls, while maternal directiveness was positively linked with popularity for girls. Opportunities for learning to regulate affect are hypothesized to contribute to these relationships. The study illustrates the linkages between family and peer social systems.

Rough‐and‐tumble play and the regulation of aggression: an observational study of father–child play dyads

“…First, the hypothesis tested is based on an assumption of socialization theory that father-child play affects the child's psychosocial development [MacDonald and Parke, 1984]. While the results reported here are consistent with this assumption, they are based on correlations and alternative accounts of the correlations are certainly possible.…”

“…It is well known that parent-child physical play is an important component of human socialization [Barth and Parke, 1993;Lindsey et al, 1997;MacDonald, 1993;MacDonald and Parke, 1984;Parke et al, 1988]. Sex differences appear to be the rule in this domain: boys engage in more RTP than their female counterparts in all cultures investigated to date [Pellegrini and Smith, 1998].…”

“…Fathers appear to socialize their children especially through physical play: father-child physical play is associated with peer competence [Carson and Parke, 1996;Lindsey et al, 1997;MacDonald and Parke, 1984]. Other studies have shown that this form of play is associated with emotion-regulation [Barth and Parke, 1993;Carson and Parke, 1996] and emotion-encoding skills [Carson and Parke, 1996;Parke et al, 1988], both of which are known to be related to peer competence [Field and Walden, 2008;Zeman et al, 2006].…”

Bullying in the family: sibling bullying

“…Social learning theory suggests that children learn particular behaviours in relationships with their parents and siblings and that these behaviours generalise to their interactions with peers and friends 68,69 . Attachment theory proposes that children's relationships with peers and siblings are influenced by internal working models of relationships which are carried forward from their earliest relationships with attachment figures 70,71 .…”

Bullying among siblings

“…Social learning theorists have suggested that children learn particular behaviors in relationships with their parents and siblings, and that these behaviors then generalize to their interactions with peers and friends (37,38) . Attachment theory proposes that children ' s relationships with peers and siblings are infl uenced by internal working models of relationships which are carried forward from their earliest relationships with attachment fi gures (39,40) .…”