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Play materials designed to enhance children's pretense were investigated; namely, how the specific characteristics of the play sets (thematically open-ended village set vs thematically closed-ended train set) influenced children's play communication regarding their co-construction of shared meanings. Participants included 44 7-year-old focal children playing with both play sets with an older or younger sibling and a same-age friend. Play set differentially impacted the type of shared meanings children co-constructed; specifically, the village set promoted more simple strategies (e.g. descriptions) and clarifications (e.g. questions), and the train set facilitated more prosocial behavior (e.g. helping), regardless of play partner. Friends were more likely to initiate play ideas and engage in disruptive behavior (e.g. control, aggression) with the train versus the village. The pattern of findings indicated that children's play communications may be associated with the specific type of props and that all materials designed for pretense do not enhance it in the same way.

Problem solving is an important cognitive skill that children use to plan and navigate various developmental and social tasks. Although previous research was theory-grounded and systematic, to our knowledge, no research has observed and documented children's problem solving as a primary objective in naturalistic developmental contexts, such as home-based play with friends. The current study used a new observational measure to evaluate associations between children's frequency of verbal and behavioral problem solving during play with friends and the extent to which they completed a toy construction task. Sixty-eight 7-year-old friends from the Northeast United States were observed in 34 play dyads. Results revealed a significant positive association between problem solving and task completion with no significant gender or play set differences. Results provide initial evidence that observing friends' shared problem solving behavior may have pedagogical implications for cognitive development in typical early childhood settings.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate children's connected communication during play with a sibling and friend from early to middle childhood. Participants included 65 4-year-old focal children at time 1 (T1) and 46 7-year-old focal children at time 2 (T2) who were videotaped at home in separate semi-structured free play sessions with an older or younger sibling and a same-aged friend at both time points. Data were coded for connectedness in communication (e.g., smooth and flowing or disjointed and fragmented) across relationship contexts and time. Research Findings: Focal children made more failed attempts at establishing connectedness and engaged in more self-talk with their siblings than with their friends, whereas they maintained connectedness more often with their friends. In terms of the partners' balance of participation, at T1 focal children ended connected interactions more often than their siblings, and the siblings engaged in more self-talk and unclear statements. In contrast, the balance of participation did not differ between friends at T1 and T2, nor did siblings differ at T2, suggesting friend partners made equal contributions to the play interactions, whereas developmental differences were apparent for siblings. Practice or Policy: The findings contribute to our understanding of developmental and relationship differences of children's connected communication during play from early to middle childhood. Parents and educators need to be aware that opportunities for connection and disconnection during sibling play are typical and provide experiences for children to practice communication skills.

This study investigated how specific characteristics of multipiece, miniature, realistic play props (thematically open-ended village set versus thematically closed-ended train set) designed to enhance children's pretense influenced their scenario creativity, object transformations, and the frequency and use of specific internal-state language. The sample consisted of 7-year-olds (n = 52) focal children playing with a sibling and a friend and focused on associations of play scenarios (i.e., set-up/organization, expected scenarios, creative scenarios), object use (i.e., set-up/organization, expected use, creative use, and no object), and internal-state language (i.e., references to cognitions, goals, emotions, preferences). Children engaged in more expected scenarios and object use with the closed-ended train set than with the open-ended village set. Play set differentially impacted the use of internal-state language: More references to goals were evident during train play, whereas a trend indicated that children employed more references to cognitions with the village. The pattern of findings indicates that children's play communications may be associated with specific types of play props; thus, different play props may enhance pretense in different ways.

The present study examined children's co-construction of shared meanings and internal state language during play with their sibling and friend from early to middle childhood. Sixty-five 4-year-old children (T1) and 46 7-year-old children (T2) were observed in the home during two free play sessions with a sibling and with a friend at both time points. Shared meaning strategies during social play (e.g., extensions and positive responses) and during pretend enactment were coded. Shared meaning strategies were associated with relationship context; children used more positive shared meaning strategies with friends compared to siblings and more introductions with siblings than friends. Moreover, developmental differences were evident; specifically, children employed more simple strategies, semantic tying (e.g., building on to one's ideas) and prosocial strategies at T2 than T1. Differences were also evident during pretend enactment where children used simple strategies more at T2 than T1 and clarifications more at T1 than T2. Findings highlight children's sophisticated and flexible communication strategies used in the process of co-constructing a shared understanding during play.

The present study examined features of sibling and friend dyads' connectedness (e.g., length and emotional tone of connected sequences) and the quality of the dyads' interactions during play from early to middle childhood. Forty-four families with a 4-year-old focal child were observed at Time 1 (T1) and again at Time 2 (T2) at age 7 in two separate play sessions (i.e., sibling and friend). Play sessions were coded for interaction quality (i.e., conflict, cooperation). Based on previous research, features of the sequences (i.e., emotional tone, length of sequence) were compared across relationship and time. Research Findings: Findings revealed similarities in the dyads' interaction quality, with both siblings and friends increasing in cooperation over time. Similarly, the emotional tone of siblings' and friends' connected sequences was more likely to be positive than negative; however, siblings' sequences were short rather than long, whereas friends' sequences were more likely to be long than short. Practice or Policy: These findings provide new insights into children's connectedness in child-child relationships and changes in connectedness across development from early to middle childhood. The study highlights the importance of observing the dyad when using a relationships theory framework to examine children's interactions.

The present study investigated children's internal state language during play with their sibling and friend across early and middle childhood. Specifically, the category type of internal state language (e.g., cognitions and goals), referent (e.g., own and other), and associations with children's birth order were examined. A total of 65 (T1: Time 1) and 46 (T2: Time 2) children were observed at age 4 and 3 years later when children were aged 7 with their sibling and with their friend in two separate play sessions at home. Videos were transcribed and coded for the frequency and category of internal state language. Children referenced cognitions more often with their sibling than friend at T2. Children's references to shared internal states (e.g., "we") were more frequent at T2 than T1 across relationship contexts. Time effects were found when the category and referent of internal state language were cross-tabulated (e.g., references to shared goals plus one's own cognitions were more characteristic at T2 than T1). Birth-order effects were evident at T1 with younger children referencing goals and cognitions with their sibling more often than older children. Results provide new insight into children's use of internal state language across relationship contexts and developmental periods.

Children often learn and apply behaviors in sibling interactions before they routinely use such behaviors in peer interactions. As part of a longitudinal study of relational aggression, 46 children were videotaped at home in semi-structured free play situations with siblings and with friends at age 4 and again at age 8. Observations revealed that sibling dyads exhibited a higher rate of relationally aggressive behaviors than did friend dyads at age 4, but by age 8, sibling and friend dyads showed similar rates of relationally aggressive behavior. Overall, this shift occurred because relational aggression between siblings decreased whereas relational aggression between friends increased. However, this pattern varied to some degree with the sex of the target child and whether the sibling was older or younger than the target. These results suggest significant implications for the development and transmission of children's social behaviors across contexts, highlighting the importance of intervening early in childhood and in the sibling context.

As part of a longitudinal study examining sibling and friend relationships in early and middle childhood, relational aggression by 4-year-olds and their interaction partners in semi-structured free play sessions with siblings and friends was examined during sibling sessions involving both same-gender and mixed-gender sibling pairs. Identifiable acts of relational aggression occurred during many of the interactions observed, but there was also a wide range in the amount of relational aggression produced. Both boys and girls used relational aggression with their siblings much more than they did with their friends. Although boys' and girls' relationally aggressive behaviors occurred at similar rates, the form and function of their relational aggression varied depending on the age and gender of their sibling.

Two general evolutionary hypotheses were tested on 756 White children (397 girls) studied longitudinally: (1) rearing experiences would predict pubertal timing; and (2) children would prove differentially susceptible to rearing. Analysis of pubertal measurements, including some based on repeated physical assessments, showed that mothering and fathering, earlier and later in childhood, predicted pubertal development, but only for girls, with negative parenting appearing most influential; maternal harsh control predicted earlier menarche. Rearing effects varied by infant negative emotionality, proving stronger (and opposite) for girls who in infancy were lower rather than higher in negativity. Maternal menarche, controlled in all analyses, was a stronger predictor than rearing. Findings are discussed in terms of theory development, genetic and nutritional influences, and sample restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This 3-year longitudinal study examined children's engagement and refusals to be prosocial between siblings and friends from early to middle childhood. At each of two time points, 44 children (M age = 4.56 years at Time 1 [T1]) were video-recorded in one play session with a sibling and one with a friend. Children's helping or refusals to help and sharing or refusals to share and their strategies to refuse prosociality were coded. Findings revealed that prosocial refusals were as frequent as prosocial actions between siblings and friends. Children were more likely to refuse to be prosocial with their sibling especially for sharing and through verbal refusals. Children used verbal refusals more at T1, whereas they used passive refusal more at T2. Verbal and nonverbal refusals were used more to refuse sharing, whereas passive refusal was used more to refuse helping. This study highlighted the importance of prosocial refusals in the development of prosociality in the context of close relationships. [End Page 421] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]