“…Same-gender play among girls tends to be affiliative and collaborative, whereas samegender play among boys tends to be more controlling and competitive (Cherry Wilkinson, Lindow, & Chiang, 1985;Leaper, 1991;Maccoby, 1998;Sheldon, 1990Sheldon, , 1992Strough & Berg, 2000). These gender differences become less pronounced in mixedgender play because girls tend to change their interaction style to be more assertive with boys than with girls (Cherry Wilkinson et al, 1985;Goodwin & Goodwin, 1987;Hall, 1984;Sgan & Pickert, 1980;Strough & Berg, 2000), whereas boys' style varies relatively little (Leaper, 1991;Leaper & Holliday, 1995;McCloskey & Coleman, 1992;Miller, Danaher, & Forbes, 1986;Strough & Berg, 2000). Child psychologists have argued that girls adapt their play styles to the gender of their play partners because they find it necessary to use more assertive behavior to influence boys (Leaper, 1991;Maccoby, 1998).…”