Naturalistic Observations of Children's Activities and Roles While Playing with Their Siblings and Friends

Abstract

STONEMAN, ZOLINDA; BRODY, GENE H.; and MACKINNON, CAROL. Naturalistic Observations of Children's Activities and Roles While Playing with Their Siblings and Friends. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 617-627. 22 school-aged children, their younger siblings, and their best friends were observed while playing at home. The older sibling and the younger sibling and the older sibling and the older sibling's best friend were observed on different days. Naturalistic observations were also obtained of the older sibling, younger sibling, and the older sibling's best friend playing together. In addition to examining the activities selected in the 3 child groupings, 5 roles were operationalized and observed: teacher, learner, manager, managee, and playmate. Positive and negative interaction was also coded. Analyses of the activities revealed that the selection of play activities varied with the gender and composition of the children's groups. Analyses of the roles enacted by the sibling pairs revealed clear role asymmetries between the older and younger siblings. These role asymmetries, however, were not evident in the interactions between older siblings and their friends. In a second study, reciprocal role acceptance by siblings and friends was examined. Younger siblings accepted the managee role more often from the older sibling than vice versa, while peers did not differ in their assumption of this role. The older sibling's friend accepted the complementary managee role in relation to the younger sibling's management attempts more frequently than the older sibling. Girls were more likely to accept the managee role than were boys.