Abstract

Although play behavior has typically been seen as a characteristic of the child per se it is also a social behavior in the sense that it happens in a group context. The present study was designed to assess the relative contributions of the individual and of social partners to play. Ninety-nine preschoolers participated in one-hour play sessions, involving three unfamiliar same-age, same-sex children. Play was observed in two ten-minute free-play periods, one at the beginning of the session and the other at the end. Positive and negative child-directed behaviors from peers were observed in structured group activities between the free-play periods. Bivariate regression and hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that (a) individual children's reticence during free-play was not associated with peers' reticence, and (b) that children's and peers' group play behaviors were positively associated. Controlling for peers' play behaviors with nested analyses did not attenuate the consistency of play from the first to second free-play period. However, peers' behaviors were observed to moderate the consistency of both reticence and group play from the first free-play session to the second, depending on children's age and gender. Reticence was exhibited more consistently by younger boys who received fewer positive peer behaviors, while group play was more consistent for older children who received fewer negative peer behaviors. This study confirms prior findings indicating that individual measures of temperament (reticence) and social competence (group play) from observations of peer interactions, while also showing how peers' behaviors construct a social context which affects children's play.