Maternal Sensitivity and Unfocused Play in Early Childhood: Changes and Test of Bidirectional Association

• In Event: 2-005 - A Focus on Executive Function

Abstract

In free play children actively interact and explore their surroundings, thereby providing an opportunity for learning (White, 1959). From simple manipulations of toys to using an object creatively, levels of play are linked to various degrees of cognitive development. Although levels of play have been studied extensively, very few studies have examined the times during which children do not engage in activity during a free play session. Unfocused play, is defined as when a child stops engagement with an object but does not move on to another object. Whether the time children spend in unfocused play is positive or negative is still an open question. In infancy, when infants disengage with an object it is labeled “habituation”, and this behavior is linked to the speed of information processing and cognitive development (Cooke, et al., 2015; Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1989). In young children, the amount of unfocused play increases when children are familiarized with toys (Rubenstein, 1967). Therefore, unfocused play may involve the same process as habituation.
Though studies of play have demonstrated that maternal sensitivity promotes exploratory behaviors and complex play behaviors (Belsky et al., 1980; Rubenstein, 1967; Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1989), relatively little is known about the developmental course of unfocused play, and the role maternal sensitivity plays in the development of unfocused play. In the current study, we examined the developmental course of unfocused play in children 15 to 36 months of age and explored the role maternal sensitivity plays in changes in unfocused play, and we tested the bidirectional association between maternal sensitivity and unfocused play.
Using the NICHD SECCYD data, this study found that unfocused play increased from 15 to 24 months and then declined at 36 months. Boys showed a steeper change in unfocused play than girls. Over the course of a play session, amount of unfocused play increased more rapidly in older children, potentially indicating that children habituated faster as they aged. Maternal sensitivity at 15 months positively predicted unfocused play at 15 months. Maternal sensitivity at 15 months was related to changes in unfocused play at 24 months for boys. In conclusions, unfocused play may not necessarily be negative. Greater levels of unfocused play may be indicative of faster habituation, which could be the result of cognitive development. In addition, maternal sensitivity is a positive predictor of unfocused play, and it drives changes in unfocused play for boys.

Authors

• Anne Schutte, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• Yinbo Wu, University of Nebraska-Lincoln