Effect of School Pretend Play on Preschoolers’ Social Competence in Peer Interactions: Gender as a Potential Moderator

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Wing-kai Fung ; Rebecca Wing-yi Cheng
• 关键词：Pretend play ; Social competence ; Preschool ; Gender
• 刊名：Early Childhood Education Journal
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：45
• 期：1
• 页码：35-42
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
• 刊物主题：Learning and Instruction; Education, general; Sociology of Education; Sociology, general;
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-1707
• 卷排序：45

文摘

This study investigated the moderating effect of gender on the causal relationships between different school play activities (pretend and non-pretend play) and social competence in peer interactions among a sample of Hong Kong children. Participants were 60 Hong Kong preschoolers (mean age = 5.44, 36.67 % female). Children with matched home pretend play time period were randomly assigned to pretend or non-pretend play groups to take part in pretend or non-pretend play activities respectively in the 1-month kindergarten play training. Children’s pre- and post-training social competences were assessed by their teachers. Results revealed a trend that girls who participated in school pretend play tended to be less disruptive during peer interactions after the training than those who participated in non-pretend play, while boys were similarly benefited from the two play activities. The implications for play-related research and children’s social competence development are discussed.