The purpose of this study is to examine deferences in play beliefs and in young children's interactive peer play by socio-demographic variables of mothers and young children and how mothers' play beliefs affect young children's interactive peer play. ...
The purpose of this study is to examine deferences in play beliefs and in young children's interactive peer play by socio-demographic variables of mothers and young children and how mothers' play beliefs affect young children's interactive peer play.
The questions of this study are as fellows.
First, is there any difference in mothers' play beliefs by socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and young children?
Second, is there any difference in young children's interactive peer play by socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and young children?
Third, how does mothers' play beliefs affect young children's interactive peer play?
The research was conducted with 346 three- to five-year-olds and their mothers who agreed with the purport of this study and participated spontaneously at kindergartens and nurseries in Yangcheonp-gu, Dongjak-gu, and Seocho-gu, Seoul. Measurements of young children were observed and assessed by their teachers.
Yu's (2008) factor analysis, following translation and revision, of the Parent Play Beliefs Scale (PPBS) manufactured by Fogle (2003) and Lee's (2008) revision and supplementation of PPBS revised and supplemented by Fogle and Mendez (2006) were used to measure mothers' play beliefs. The Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale(PIPPS) manufactured in 1995 and revised and supplemented in 1998 by Fanttuzzo, Coolahan, Mendez, McDermott, and Sutton-Smith was used to measure young children's interactive peer play since Choe and Shin's (2008) factor analysis and reliability and validity tests among domestic young children found that it had no problem in terms of internal consistency.
As for statistical processing of the collected data, t-test and one-way ANOVA were carried out to see differences in play beliefs and interactive peer play by general characteristics of mothers and young children, followed by Scheffe's post-test, if there were significant differences. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out to see relations between mothers' play beliefs and young children's interactive peer play and the effects.
The results of this study can be summarized as follows:
First, as for differences in play beliefs by socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and young children, the better academic background of mother, the more positive and parent-centered play beliefs; the older and the poorer academic ground, the more negative play beliefs. Employed mothers were found to have more parent-centered play beliefs than homemakers, showing significant differences; the higher monthly income, the more positive and parent-centered play beliefs and the less negative play beliefs, showing significant differences. As for differences in mothers' play beliefs by young children's gender, age, and birth order, there was no statistically significant difference in mothers' play beliefs by young children's gender and age, but there were statistically significant differences by birth order. In other words, the latter birth order, the more positive play beliefs; those who were the only child or the first one were more likely to have negative and parent-centered play beliefs.
Second, as for differences in young children's interactive peer play by socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and young children, mothers doing service work caused higher play hindrance for young children than those working as a clerical employee, in terms of occupation. As for young children's interactive peer play by their age, four- and five-year-olds were found to have higher play interruption than three-year-olds, showing significant differences.
Third, as for correlation between mothers' play beliefs and young children's interactive peer play, positive play beliefs were negatively correlated with play hindrance and interruption and positively correlated with interactive play, while negative play beliefs were positively correlated with play hindrance and negatively correlated with interactive play and play interruption. Parent-centered play beliefs were negatively correlated with play hindrance and interruption and positively correlated with interactive play; more positive and parent-centered play beliefs exerted positive effects on interactive play, while less positive and parent-centered play beliefs exerted negative effects on play interruption.
This implies that there are close relations between mothers' play beliefs and young children's interactive peer play.