How Parents Play
Play Style as a Function of Gender of Parent, Gender of Child, and Play Context
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2348634 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C Liu (0000-0002-9979-8272, Cedarville University), Amanda W Harrist (0000-0002-1423-7004, Oklahoma State University, corresponding author), Jeffrey T Cookston (0000-0002-6628-5497, San Francisco State University), Sonia Carrillo (0000-0001-8417-2755, Universidad de los Andes) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 435-463 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Family Issues (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0192-513X • E-ISSN: 1552-5481 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192513x241263782 |
| OpenAlex | W4400955512 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 67 |
Positive effects of parent-child play have been documented but little is known about what drives this play. We observed eight-one children (kindergarten through 1st grade) of their play with the mother and father separately to determine how the play role of parents changed based on parent gender, child gender, and play context. Two significant 3-way interactions were identified: (1) parents of boys acted more often as directors in a puppet game, as facilitators in a building block game, and as co-players in a ball game, whereas parents of girls were more likely to be co-players in the puppet and building block games but facilitators in the ball game; (2) fathers tended to be directors more often than co-players in the ball game, while the opposite was true for mothers. Findings point to the important interplay of gender and context in determining the roles that parents enact when playing with children
Developmental psychology · Game play · Multimedia · Child Development and Digital Technology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · Social Psychology
Sequential Analysis and Observational Methods for the Behavioral Sciences
Father Involvement During Early Childhood and Its Association with Children's Early Learning
Contextual risk and parenting as predictors of effortful control and social competence in preschool children
Early Maternal and Child Influences on Children's Later Independent Cognitive and Social Functioning
The Power of Play
The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds
The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data
Systematic review of the differences between mothers and fathers in parenting styles and practices
Do Fathers Just Want to Have Fun
Putting gender into context
Mother–Son, Mother–Daughter, Father–Son, and Father–Daughter
Father-child play
Mother-child and father-child relationships in middle childhood and adolescence
The impact of pretend play on children's development
Parent–child learning interactions
Should Researchers Conceptualize Differently the Dimensions of Parenting for Fathers and Mothers
The Association Between Coparenting and Child Adjustment
Parent Gender Differences in Emotion Socialization Behaviors Vary by Ethnicity and Child Gender
Stability of Observed Maternal Behavior Across Tasks, Time, and Siblings
Middle Childhood Feelings Toward Mothers
The Family Contexts of Gender Development in Childhood and Adolescence
The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship
Parent-child physical play
Gender Differences in Parent–Child Emotion Narratives
Gender-linked Differences in the Toys, Television Shows, Computer Games, and Outdoor Activities of 5- to 13-year-old Children
Parent–Child Conversational Styles in Middle Childhood
Sex typing in play and popularity in middle childhood
Father Play
Measurement of Father–child Rough‐and‐tumble Play and Its Relations to Child Behavior
Moderators of gender effects on parents' talk to their children
The indirect effects of maternal emotion socialization on friendship quality in middle childhood
Parent-child physical play with rejected, neglected, and popular boys
Effortful control in early childhood
Gender, affiliation, assertion, and the interactive context of parent–child play
Emotional availability
Gender differences in temperament
Enduring and different
Children's Time With Fathers in Intact Families
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |