Associations Between Observed Peer Pretend Play and Children’s Self-reported Emotional Experience and Expression

• In Event: Pretend Play with Peers: International Perspectives on Links Between Social Pretend Play and Social-emotional Competences

Abstract

Although pretend play has been linked to children’s emotional experience and expression, evidence has been limited to young children in Western cultures, with associations being examined at individual levels. Given that pretend play is influenced by cognitive, social, cultural, and contextual factors, it is important to investigate how pretend play may be associated with emotional experience and expression at both individual and interpersonal levels among older children and children from non-Western cultures.
The current study investigates how children’s self-reported emotional experience and expression are associated with their observed pretend play in peer dyads. 108 Chinese children (Mage = 8.95, SD = 0.99, 51.9% girls) individually completed a self-report questionnaire on general frequencies of experiencing and expressing positive and negative emotions. Immediately after they completed the questionnaire, children were invited to play with a peer with toys, the process of which was video-recorded and coded at five-second intervals for frequency and contents of pretend play.
Hypothesised associations between pretend play and children’s self-reported emotional experience and expression were tested using multilevel modelling and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Compared to children whose partner self-reported lower frequency of experiencing negative emotions, children who played with partners with higher frequency of negative emotional experience were more likely to create emotional pretend themes. Additionally, the observed frequency of a child’s pretend play was negatively predicted by both the child’s own, and the child’s play partner’s self-reported willingness to show emotions in daily life.
These findings suggest that pretend play may serve as an alternative vehicle for children to express their emotions. Emotional pretend themes may serve the function of emotion regulation when children play with partners who experience more negative emotions. Implications and limitations of the study will be discussed.

Authors

• Zhen Rao, University of Cambridge
  Presenting Author

• Jenny Gibson, University of Cambridge
  Non-Presenting Author