Sukhikh, V.L.
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Gavrilova, M.N.
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Plotnikova, V.A.
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Abstract
Background. Rough-and-tumble play, which includes elements of fight and pseudo-aggression, is an important element of the play behaviour in preschool children. This type of play appears at an early age and is observed not only in humans in different cultures, but also in animals, thus having an evolutionary and adaptive significance. Assessing the relationship between the degree of involvement in rough-and-tumble play and the individual characteristics of children is an urgent task from both practical and scientific points of view.
Objective. The aim of the study was to identify the psychological characteristics of older preschool children, who are often involved in rough-and-tumble play. It was hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between the degree of involvement in this type of play and the level of development of executive functions and social competence. The connections with other key lines of development, such as speech, emotional understanding, and sociometric status were additionally analyzed.
Study Participants. The study involves 36 preschoolers (20 of them are boys) aged 5–6 years (M = 70.36 months, SD = 3,6), attending kindergartens in Moscow.
Methods. The study included an individual evaluation of the regulatory functions, speech, and understanding of emotions. The sociometric status of the children and their social competence were also assessed. Next, the children participated in collective pretend play. The videorecords were used to determine the degree of involvement in rough-and-tumble play.
Results. Regardless of gender, outsider children involve in rough-and-tumble play significantly more often and for a longer time than children with an average sociometric status. At the same time, popular children and outsiders are equally often involved in this game. The frequency of involvement significantly negatively correlates with the indicator of speech development. The worse the macrostructure of a child’s narrative, the more often he/she enters into a rough-and-tumble play. At the same time, children with a high level of involvement in rough-and-tumble play showed higher abilities to understand emotions.
Conclusions. Frequent and prolonged participation in rough-and-tumble play may be a signal of difficulties associated with a lag in speech development and difficulties in building interpersonal relationships with peers. At the same time, more developed abilities to understand emotions can serve as a resource in correction process.
References
Aldis, O. (1975). Play fighting. New York: Academic Press.
Almazova, O.V., Bukhalenkova, D.A., Veraksa, N.E. (2019). Diagnosis of the level of development of regulatory functions in the senior preschool age. Psikhologiya. Zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki = Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 16(2), 302–317. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17323/1813-8918-2019-2-302-317
Anderson, S., Qiu, W., Wheeler, S.J. (2017). The quality of father–child rough-and-tumble play and toddlers’ aggressive behavior in China. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(6), 726–742. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21675
Anderson, S., StGeorge, J., Roggman, L.A. (2019). Measuring the quality of early Father–Child rough and tumble play: Tools for practice and research. Child & Youth Care Forum, 48(6), 889–915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-019-09513-9
Babaeva, N.B. (2023). Outdoor play as a means of comprehensive development of the child’s personality. Vestnik nauki = Herald of Science, 2(7(64)), 61–67. (In Russ.)
Belova, E.S., Shumakova, N.B. (2024). Playful interaction of senior preschoolers with parents as a resource of the developing microenvironment in the context of digitalization. Preschool Education Today, 18(4), 24–36. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24412/2782-4519-2024-4124-24-36
Bjorklund, D.F., Pellegrini, A.D. (2000). Child development and evolutionary psychology.Child Development, 71(6), 1687–1708. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00258
Butovskaya, M.L., Demianovitsch, A.N. (2002). Social competence and behavior evaluation (SCBE-30) and socialization values (SVQ): Russian children ages 3 to 6 years. Early Education and Development, 13(2), 153–170. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1302_3
Colwell, M.J., Lindsey, E.W. (2005). Preschool children’s pretend and physical play and sex of play partner: Connections to peer competence. Sex Roles, 52(7-8), 497–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3716-8
Dodge, K.A., Coie, J.D., Pettit, G.S., Price, J.M. (1990). Peer status and aggression in boys’ groups: developmental and contextual analyses. Child Development, 61(5), 1289–1309. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02862.x
Fliek, L., Daemen, E., Roelofs, J., Muris, P. (2015). Rough-and-tumble play and other parental factors as correlates of anxiety symptoms in preschool children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(9), 2795–2804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0083-5
Fry, D.P. (2005). Rough-and-tumble social play in humans. In: A.D. Pellegrini, P.K. Smith, (eds.). The nature of play: Great apes and humans. (pp. 54–88). New York: Guilford Press.
Gagarina, N.V., Klop, D., Kunnari, S., Tantele, K., Välimaa, T., Balciuniene, I., Bohnacker, U., Walters, J. (2012). MAIN: Multilingual assessment instrument for narratives. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 56, 155–155. https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.56.2019.414
Garcia, M., Aubron, V., Salla, J., Hanne-Poujade, S., Teymoori, A., Michel, G. (2020). Association Between Adolescent Rough-andTumble Play and Conduct Problems, Substance Use, and Risk-Taking Behaviors: Findings From a School-Based Sample. Aggressive Behavior, 46(1), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21866
Hart, J.L., Tannock, M.T. (2018). Rough Play: Past, Present, and Potential. In: P.K. Smith, J.L. Roopnarine, (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Play: Developmental and Disciplinary Perspectives. (pp. 200–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Humphreys, A.P., Smith, P.K. (1987). Rough and tumble, friendship, and dominance in schoolchildren: Evidence for continuity and change with age. Child Development, 55(5), 201–212. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130302
Jarvis, P. (2006). “Rough and tumble” play: Lessons in life. Evolutionary Psychology, 4(1), 330–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470490600400128
Khakimzyanov, R.N., Lavrentieva, A.V. (2024). Personal Factors Contributing to the Formation of Identity of Persons from Dysfunctional Families. Education and Self Development, 19(4), 258–270. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.26907/esd.19.4.19
Kolominskii, Ya.L. (1984). Psychology of the children’s collective: the system of personal relationships. Minsk: Narodnaya Asveta Publ. (In Russ.)
Korkman, M., Kirk, U., Kemp, S. (2007). NEPSY-II: Clinical and interpretive manual. San Antonio: Harcourt Assessment Publ.
Lindsey, E.W., Colwell, M.J. (2013). Pretend and physical play: Links to preschoolers’ affective social competence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 59(3), 330–360. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2013.0015
Logue, M.E., Harvey, H. (2009). Preschool teachers’ views of active play. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 24(1), 32–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540903439375
Pellegrini, A.D., Smith, P.K. (1998). The development of play during childhood: Forms and possible functions. Child Psychology & Psychiatry Review, 3(2), 51–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360641798001476
Pellis, S.M., Pellis, V.C. (2007). Rough-and-tumble play and the development of the social brain.Current Directions in Psychological Science: A Journal of the American Psychological Society, 16(2), 95–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00483.x
Pellis, S.M., Pellis, V.C., Reinhart, C.J. (2010). The role of play fighting in the development of social competence: Insights from animal models. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(3), 141–145.
Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child. New York: Free Press.
Pons, F., Harris, P.L. (2000). Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). Frankfurt: Francfort Communication & Partenaires Publ.
Power, T.G. (2000). Play and exploration in children and animals. Mahway: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publ. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410604747
Ryabkova, I.A., Sheina, E.G. (2023). On the play of a child and an actor: to the question of the transformations in experience. National Psychological Journal, 3(51), 137–146. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2023.0313
Sandseter, E.B.H., Sando, O.J., Kleppe, R. (2021). Associations between children’s risky play and ECEC outdoor play spaces and materials. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3354. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073354
Schåfer, M., Smith, P.K. (1996). Teachers’ perceptions of play fighting and real fighting in primary school. Educational Research, 38(2), 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013188960380205
Séguin, J.R., Zelazo, P.D. (2005). Executive function in early physical aggression. In: R.E. Tremblay, W.W. Hartup, J. Archer, (eds.). Developmental origins of aggression. (pp. 307–329). New York: The Guilford Press.
Smith, P.K., StGeorge, J.M. (2023). Play fighting (rough-and-tumble play) in children: Developmental and evolutionary perspectives. International Journal of Play, 12(1), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2022.2152185
Stgeorge, J., Freeman, E. (2017). Measurement of father–child rough-and-tumble play and its relations to child behavior. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(6), 709–725. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21676
Storli, R. (2021). Children’s rough-and-tumble play in a supportive early childhood education and care environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10469. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910469
Storli, R., Sandseter, E.B.H. (2019). Children’s play, well-being and involvement: How children play indoors and outdoors in Norwegian early childhood education and care institutions. International Journal of Play, 8(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2019.1580338
Sutton-Smith, B. (1997). The ambiguity of play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Tamarevskaya, D.V. (2023). Features of outdoor outdoor games and entertainment as a means of activating the motor activity of preschool children. Interaktivnaya nauka = Interactive Science, 6(82), 45–46. (In Russ.)
Tannock, M. (2011). Observing young children’s rough-and-tumble play.Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693911103600203
Vanderschuren, L.J.M.J., Trezza, V. (2014). What the laboratory rat has taught us about social play behavior: Role in behavioral development and neural mechanisms. In: S.L. Andersen, D.S. Pine, (eds.).The neurobiology of childhood.(pp. 189–212). Luxembourg: Springer-Verlag Publ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54913-7
Veraksa, N., Veraksa, A., Gavrilova, M., Bukhalenkova, D., Tarasova, K. (2021). The Russian version of the test of emotion comprehension: Adaptation and validation for use in preschool children. Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics, 18(1), 56–70.
Veraksa, N.E., Aslanova, M.S., Tarasova, K.S., Klimenko, V.A. (2023). Technique for Diagnosing Cognitive Flexibility in Preschoolers: Comparison of Blank and Digital Forms. Vestnik Rossiiskogo Universiteta Druzhby Narodov. Seriya: Psikhologiya i Pedagogika = RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics, 20(1), 105–125. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-1683-2023-20-1-105-125
Von Frijtag, J.C., Schot, M., van den Bos, R., Spruijt, B.M. (2002). Individual housing during the play period results in changed responses to and consequences of a psychosocial stress situation in rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 41(1), 58–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.10057
Yudina, E.G. (2022). Pretend play as the territory of freedom. National Psychological Journal, 3(47), 13–25. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2022.0303
Zakharova, M.N., Machinskaya, R.I. (2023). Voluntary Control of Cognitive Activity in Preschool Children: Age-dependent Changes from Ages 3–4 to 4–5. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 16(3), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2023.0309
Zelazo, P.D. (2006). The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS): A method of assessing executive function in children. Nature Protocols, 1(1), 297–301. https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.46
Zinchenko, Yu.P. (2011). Psychology of security as a social-systemic phenomenon. Lomonosov Psychology Journal, (4), 4–11. (In Russ.)
To cite this article:
Sukhikh, V.L., Gavrilova, M.N., Plotnikova, V.A..
“Let’s Play Chase!”: Psychological Characteristics of Older Preschool Children with High Involvement in Rough-and-Tumble Play. // National Psychological Journal
2025. 4. Pages21-32. doi: 10.11621/npj.2025.0402
Copied to Clipboard
Copy
