Fostering children’s social pretend play competence and social skills through play tutoring: What is the mechanism of change?

Abstract

Training studies have shown the positive effects of play tutoring on children’s social skills. This study investigates whether the theoretically suggested mechanism of change—social pretend play quality—explains the effect of play tutoring on social pretend play competence and social skills. Twenty-seven Swiss playgroups ( N = 214 three- to four-year-olds) participated in a randomized intervention study with three conditions: the intervention group (play tutoring), the material group (half-dose), and the control group (treatment as usual). Weekly treatment sessions took place for six consecutive weeks. Pre-tests, post-tests, and a follow-up were made. Playgroup educators reported on children’s pretend play competence and social skills using a questionnaire. Children’s pretend play quality during treatment sessions was assessed by standardized behavioral observations. Using latent change models with indirect effects, we investigated whether the intervention effects of play tutoring on children’s pretend play competence and social skills are mediated by their social pretend play quality shown during the intervention sessions. The results indicate mediating effects of social pretend play quality on children’s change in social pretend play competence and self-oriented social skills (sociability and setting limits). The study supports social pretend play as a beneficial ground to promote social development but also indicates a more complex interplay of different change mechanisms.

The Effect of Role Playing Methods on Social-emotional Development in Preschool Children

“…With the direct involvement of children in role playing, stimulates children to live, express, and feel how to become a character. Children's socialization skills will show more complex interactions when children role-play with their peers (Kalkusch et al, 2022). This is in line with the review by Fung & Wing-yi Cheng (2017), which states that the involvement of children in certain characterizations in role playing makes a positive contribution where children can learn how to communicate and interact well, cooperate, and be able to adapt to their peers.…”

“…In relation to the effect of implementing role playing on social development, role playing was investigated in a study involving 101 participants which showed that children's participation in role playing using guided role play materials had a significant impact on prosocial behavior compared to the two groups (playgroup and control group), prosocial behavior is shown by children with a positive and active attitude of cooperation and interaction between children when playing roles (Kalkusch et al, 2021). This is commensurate with four other research studies with 357 participants, two of these studies showed that the application of role playing had a significant effect on children's socialization skills compared to the control group, such as tolerance, cooperation, empathy, and problem-solving well (Bauminger et al, 2020;Kalkusch et al, 2022). The third study showed that preschoolers from the three groups demonstrated an improvement in various aspects of interaction with peers after the intervention, while the control group did not show good development (Bauminger et al, 2020).…”

“…Playing a role like a child playing a certain role and playing his ideas in an imaginary scenario is not something without meaning. By playing certain roles, and taking part in pretend play (Kalkusch et al, 2022).…”

“…This is shown how the child behaves prosocially and actively maintains the game. Role playing has a big role in children's social maturity (Kalkusch et al, 2021(Kalkusch et al, , 2022Perren et al, 2019).…”

The Impact of Working Memory on the Development of Social Play in Japanese Preschool Children: Emotion Knowledge as a Mediator

“…Play is essential for children’s development of social-emotional competence in early childhood. In particular, social play has been linked to the development of executive function [ 1 ], emotion knowledge [ 2 , 3 ], theory of mind [ 4 ], social competence [ 5 ], and psychosocial adjustment [ 6 ], including anxiety and problem behaviors [ 7 ], reading comprehension, and math performance [ 8 ]. Successful peer relationships in early childhood are also related to academic achievement and school adjustment beyond elementary school [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”