Poster #35 - Parents’ Different Behavior During Pretend Versus Real Interactions With Children

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

During pretend play, parents provide toddlers with verbal and behavioral cues to pretense: compared to real activities, the pitch of their speech is more variable; their movements are nonstandard, becoming (typically) faster or slower; and they engage in increased social referencing (Lillard et al., 2007; Lillard & Witherington, 2004; Ma & Lillard, 2013; Nishida & Lillard, 2007; Richert & Lillard, 2004). The present study investigated other aspects of how parent–child interactions differ when engaging in pretend play with somewhat older children. More specifically, we focused on whether the frequency and types of questions parents ask differ by context, and also whether parents believe themselves to adopt different roles in each context.

Thirty-two parents were observed while engaging with their 4-year-olds (M = 54.19 months, SD = 3.41 months; 16 female) in one pretend and one real activity—cleaning and having snack—for 5 minutes each. After the observation sessions ended, parents self-reported their primary role during each the pretend and real activity: (a) Partner in Fun, actively playing with their child as a partner and ensuring their child has fun; (b) Teacher, helping their child practice relevant skills and teaching their child how the world works; (c) Director, helping their child achieve the goal of the activity and guiding by providing suggestions; or (d) Monitor, watching their child to ensure safety. Later, parents’ speech was transcribed and their questions were coded into four discrete categories: (a) Clarification (clarifying the child’s action or speech by repeating back what the child has done or said); (b) Coordination (motivating, coordinating, or directing action), (c) Thought (prompting the child to think, reflect, or imagine); and (d) Knowledge (testing the child’s knowledge of facts or procedures). Cohen’s kappa was run on question type codes from 20% of participants and agreement was high, Cohen’s k = .86, 95% CI [.84, .89], p < .001.

Results showed that parents asked more questions during pretend (M = 27.06, SD = 9.79) than real activities (M = 22.06, SD = 7.68), t(31) = 3.53, p = .001, Cohen’s d = .57. A multivariate ANOVA revealed significant differences in the types of questions parents asked based on condition, F(4, 28) = 4.05, p = .01, ηp2 = .37. In particular, parents asked more Clarification and Thought questions in pretend—pedagogical question types that are more apt to assist learning (Yu, Bonawitz, & Shafto, 2017). Finally, although they engaged in more pedagogical questions during pretense, they regarded themselves as a Partner in Fun during pretend activities, and as a Teacher or Monitor during real ones. These results suggest that parents have different explicit goals when engaging in pretend and real activities, that these two types of activities might have complementary benefits for children, and that parents might in fact fulfill the pedagogical goals they have during real activities better during pretend ones.

Authors

• Jessica Taggart, University of Virginia
  Presenting Author

• Meghan Ellwood, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dermina Vasc, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Chin, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angeline Lillard, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author