Fun and Creative play with moms and dads: Contributions to Children’s Social Competence

• In Event: 1-027 - Parental playfulness: The key for children´s positive development?

Integrative Statement

Introduction: One of the ways children develop social competence is through social play. In the context of imaginary play, children learn social skills, such as taking turns, recognizing social cues, and negotiating strategies (Lillard et al., 2013). Playing with parents may provide such a social context, especially when parents show high playfulness, that is, use creativity, imagination, humor, and curiosity during parent–child play (Menashe-Grinberg & Atzaba-Poria, 2017). In low-income samples, fathers’ and mothers’ playfulness has been shown to differentially predict children’s emotion regulation and vocabulary (Cabrera et al., 2017), and in middle-class samples lower negativity (Menashe-Grinberg & Atzaba-Poria, 2017), but its associations with social competence have not yet been studied. Differential susceptibility theory predicts that some children, notably those with a fearful temperament, benefit more from positive parenting behaviors (Belsky & Pluess, 2009).
Research Question/Hypotheses: We explored whether fathers’ and mothers’ playfulness in toddlerhood predicts better child social competence at 4.5 years in a sample of middle-class Dutch families. We also examined whether child fearful temperament moderates this association, expecting that fearful children benefit more from playfulness.
Methods: Participants were 108 couples with their first-born child. Fathers’ and mothers’ playfulness was observed in two free play tasks (one at home, one in the lab) at 2.5 years. Child fearful temperament was observed at 2.5 years using 8 observational tasks from standard batteries such as the Lab-TAB (Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1996). Child social competence was assessed at 4.5 years using combined fathers’ and mothers’ ratings of the SCBE-30 (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996).
Results. Preliminary results showed that fathers and mothers did not differ in level of playfulness: t(120) = 0.05, p = .964. Parents’ rated girls higher than boys on social competence: t(108) = 2.97, p = .004. Regression models controlling for child sex showed no significant direct associations between mothers’ or fathers’ playfulness and child social competence (β = .05, p = .620; β = .14, p = .124, respectively). The interaction between child fearful temperament and playfulness at 2.5 years was non-significant for mothers (β = -.08, p = .398), but significant for fathers (β = -.21, p = .014). For children low in fearfulness, fathers’ playfulness at 2.5 years predicted better social competence at 4.5 years (β = .37, p = .004), but for children high in fearfulness it did not (β = -.06, p = .622, Figure 1).
Discussion: Fathers’ playfulness in toddlerhood seems to predict better social competence two years later, but only for some children. Contrary to expectations, only relatively fearless children seem to benefit from their fathers’ playful qualities. Perhaps such uninhibited children are more open to their fathers’ playful activities and play often with their fathers. Future research should explore the contribution of the quantity of playfulness in addition to its quality. The finding that mothers’ playfulness did not significantly predict social competence supports accumulating evidence that similar parenting behaviors displayed by fathers versus mothers may affect children differently, and that future studies should address both parents’ play.

Authors

• Mirjana Majdandzic, University of Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Natasha Cabrera, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kelsey Garcia, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Bögels, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author