When Girls Versus Boys Play Alone

Nonsocial Play and Adjustment in Kindergarten

Coplan, Robert J.
Gavinski-Molina, Marie-Héléne
Lagacé-Séguin, Daniel G.
Wichmann, Cherami

¹Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

²Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Robert J. Coplan, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Canada. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected].

This research was supported by the Ottawa–Carleton District School Board and a Social Science Research Council of Canada grant. We thank Janis Huygens, Amanda Lee, Fiona Macleod, Angie Mattka, Catherine Mills, Megan Patterson, and Dana Stimpson for their help in the collection and coding of data. We are also grateful to the teachers, principals, children, and families who participated in this study.

Received Date: September 13, 1999; Revised Date: January 31, 2001; Accepted Date: February 13, 2001

Developmental Psychology 37(4):p 464-474, July 2001.

The goal of the present study was to examine the relations between different forms of children's nonsocial play behaviors and adjustment in kindergarten. The participants in this study were 77 kindergarten children (38 boys, 39 girls; mean age = 66.16 months, SD = 4.11 months). Mothers completed ratings of child shyness and emotion dysregulation. Children's nonsocial play behaviors (reticent, solitary–passive, solitary–active) were observed during free play. In addition, teachers rated child behavior problems (internalizing and externalizing) and social competence; academic achievement was assessed through child interviews. Results from regression analyses revealed that different types of nonsocial play were differentially associated with child characteristics and indices of adjustment. For some forms of nonsocial play, the nature of these associations differed significantly for boys and girls.