Observing the Developmental Progression of Pretend Play Across the Preschool Years

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

A systematic review of pretend play research identified five core components of pretend play, based on empirical research and developmental theory, that are essential to measure in order to fully capture preschoolers’ pretend play. These five components are theorized to develop from least to most cognitively and socially complex in the following order: object substitutions, attribution of pretend properties, social interactions within pretend play, role play, and pretense-related metacommunication (**blinded for review).

But, all five components have yet to be measured simultaneously in a single research study. We take a first step towards overcoming this issue by examining the developmental progression of these components using naturalistic observation. Research assistants blind to the hypothesized progression observed preschoolers during free play time in the dramatic play area of their classrooms on three separate occasions for 10-minute periods. Research assistants watched children (N = 73; ages 37-66 months) play for 15-second increments, then recorded which pretend play behaviors were demonstrated. Coders demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (ICCs > .75 for each component). We expected that age would be related most strongly with the more advanced pretend play behaviors (social interactions, role play, metacommunication) and less strongly with the less advanced behaviors (object substitution, property attribution), based on the theorized developmental progression.

Five separate regressions were run with child sex as a covariate and child age in months as a predictor of the proportion of pretend play time children spent engaged in each of the core behaviors (see Figure 1). Children’s age significantly, positively predicted the proportion of pretend play time children spent engaged in social interactions (B = .01, p = .006), role play (B = .009, p = .01). and metacommunication (B = .003, p = .04). Age was not a significant predictor for object substitutions or property attribution. As predicted, older children more frequently engaged in the more advanced pretend play behaviors. Older children also engaged in multiple behaviors simultaneously with a higher frequency, demonstrating their advancement along this developmental progression and their ability to layer high level behaviors on top of lower level behaviors.

This analysis of the developmental progression of pretend play provides a better understanding of how pretend play skills advance across the preschool years and provides a base from which future research can capture the full spectrum of pretend play. This examination of individual pretend play behaviors, rather than combining them into an overall “pretend play” score, will allow researchers to pinpoint the specific pretense skills related to other developmental areas of interest, such as social skills or problem solving. This level of specificity is key to making causal claims about pretend play’s contribution to child development and creating interventions to optimize development. To develop effective pretend play-based interventions, researchers need to first isolate which behavior is mechanistically related to improved development in the desired outcome. The measurement system utilized in this study, as well as the theory behind it, will move the field towards isolating the mechanisms of change as a result of pretend play.

Authors

• Brittany Thompson, George Mason University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thalia Raquel Goldstein, George Mason University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lida Hnatczuk, George Mason University
  Presenting Author