Group cohesiveness in children free‐play activity

A social network analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID21337313
AuthorsPaula Lira (0000-0003-2077-1948, Institute of Psychology University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil, corresponding author), Christina Moretti (Institute of Psychology University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil), Danilo Silva Guimarães (0000-0002-0583-2979, Universidade de São Paulo), Danilo Guimarães (Institute of Psychology University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil), B Resende (0000-0001-5932-0189, Universidade de São Paulo)
Year2021
Volume56
Issue6
Pages941-950
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7594 • E-ISSN: 1464-066X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ijop.12777
PMID33978958
OpenAlexW3160160001
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Despite the ethnic diversity and presence of Amerindian communities in all Brazilian states, the indigenous population suffers from a long process of invisibility and stereotyping. Aiming to increase interethnic associations, together with Mbya‐Guarani leaders we promoted interventions in which indigenous and non‐indigenous children shared free playtime. We hypothesised that free play activity would stimulate group cohesiveness, mitigating ethnic group avoidance in children's playgroups. Twenty‐one Mbya‐Guarani and 61 non‐indigenous children participated in two “Encounters for Play.” We recorded children's social interactions during the free playtimes. We selected the first and last 10 minutes of each encounter and performed scans every 30s registering spatial proximity (children who were up to 1 m of each other) and play. Then, we applied Social Network Analysis to explore the children's association pattern at the beginning and end of playtime in each encounter. Our results show free play activity was effective in stimulating group cohesiveness. Children' proximity association pattern and playgroup configuration changed between clips, and there was a significant correlation between both categories' associations. We conclude that the encounters have potential applicability as an intervention to mitigate ethnic group avoidance in children

Association (psychology) · Developmental psychology · Diversity (politics) · Ethnic group · Group cohesiveness · Indigenous · Intervention (counseling) · Psychological intervention · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Anthropology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity

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