Mother-child interactional correlates of maltreated and nonmaltreated children's play behavior

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Alessandri

AbstractThis study investigates maternal interactive styles and their relation to children's play and nonplay behaviors. Fifteen maltreated and 15 nonmaltreated preschool-aged children and their mothers were observed during a laboratory play session and during problem-solving situations. Children's play behaviors were later videotaped in the classroom and analyzed for the level of social participation and cognitive complexity. Results indicated that maltreated mothers were less involved with their children, used fewer physical and verbal strategies to direct their children's attention, and were more negative compared with nonmaltreated mothers. Higher levels of cognitive play were positively related to both maternal physical and verbal attention-directing behaviors, high maternal involvement, and positive affective tone. The role of maternal stimulation in children's play development and implications for intervention programs are discussed.

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1109-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Pellegrini

To investigate the development of preschoolers' social-cognitive play behaviors 10 preschoolers each at three ages, 2, 3, and 4 yr., were observed in their classrooms on 15 occasions by a time-sampling schedule. Children's social-cognitive behaviors were coded according to Parten and Smilansky's systems. Analyses indicated that children's play became more social as they grew older. 3- and 4-yr.-olds, however, engaged in more non-social dramatic play than did 2-yr.-olds. 3- and 4-yr.-old girls engaged in more non-social functional play than did boys. Boys, however, engaged in more non-social dramatic play than girls. Increased sampling is needed.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Cattanach

Pellegrini and Smith (1998) have provided a challenging review of the forms and possible functions of play during childhood, and Blatchford's (1998) paper on children's play reports a programme of research about the nature of play at school breaktimes that seems to be the sort of research that Pellegrini and Smith recommend in their conclusion, calling for more descriptive studies of children's play. When considering the nature and possible functioning of play during childhood Pellegrini and Smith explore general definitional issues. They suggest that play theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky considered that play was the way that children learnt skills necessary for successful functioning in adulthood. Perhaps this is a simple way to express, for example, Vygotsky's (1978) descriptions of play in ‘The Role of Play in Development’ in Mind in society. Vygotsky states that in play a child creates an imaginary situation; that play is the place where a child spontaneously makes use of his ability to separate meaning from an object without knowing he is doing it. The creation of an imaginary situation is the first manifestation of the child's emancipation from situational constraints and the primary paradox of play is that the child operates with an alienated meaning in a real situation. Vygotsky may be describing an important skill for successful functioning in adulthood, but it is also an important function in childhood.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-105
Author(s):  
I.A. Kotliar ◽  
M.V. Sokolova ◽  
E.G. Sheina

The paper gives an overview of the 14th interdisciplinary conference The Importance of Taking Risks held by the Welsh branch of the International Play Association. The meeting focused on various aspects of supporting children’s play and on the role of risk in child development. The conference had a clear multidis- ciplinary character and brought together specialists from a variety of fields: psychologists, teachers, social workers, experts in risk assessment, and health care professionals. The paper outlines how risk is understood in modern western theory and practice and distinguishes between risk and danger. A child must be taught to assess situations as safe or dangerous. However, modern developmental environment tends to reduce the possibility of risks for the child, which deprives him/her of the natural means of learning about the world and reduces creativity and independence and holds back the child’s self-regulation, prolonging compelled dependence and making children more infantile. The conference also involved discussions concerning tech- niques for risk assessment and a number of prevention programmes and practices. This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities (project No 15-06-10627 “Psychological and pedagogical analysis of children’s play environment of the modern city”).


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