The influence of play style on the friendship choices of preschool children

Abstract

Play has been found to be an important variable in the friendships of preschool children. Recent research on play styles has provided some evidence that children demonstrate stable individual differences in their play behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between individual differences in play style and the friendship choices of preschool children. The subjects were 31 preschool children ranging in age from 3-9 to 5-4. Based on ratings obtained from head classroom teachers, the children were classified as patterners, dramatists, or mixed players. Children were individually interviewed to ascertain their friendship choices.

Pearson product-moment correlations indicated there were no significant relationships between the subjects' play styles and the play styles of their most preferred and least preferred friends. Nonsignificant correlations were also found between the subjects' play styles and the average of the play style ratings of their three most preferred and three least preferred friends. These findings indicate play styles do not influence the friendship choices of preschool children. Problems with the techniques used to assess play style and friendship choices were cited as possible contributors to the nonsignificant findings. It was also suggested that since preschool children have been found to emphasize social comparison and the establishment of areas of similarities when interacting with friends, play styles may not be an important factor in their choice of friends.

Two issues related to children's play styles and friendship patterns became evident in this study. One issue deals with the identification of play styles. The results of this study indicated a rating scale can be used to reliably classify children by play style. The second issue deals with the stability of preschool children's friendships. Stability was demonstrated in the children's individual friendship choices over a 6 week period. Examination of the data indicated that frequency of contact and length of interaction are important factors contributing to the stability of preschool children's friendships. Contrary to past research, these findings indicate the friendships of preschool children can be stable if the children are in a setting which permits frequent and consistent interaction over time.