The Relationship among Young Children's Solitary Play, Temperament, and Peer Competence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among young children's solitary play, temperament, and peer competence. The subjects of this study were 273 kindergartners aged 5, living in Taegu. The Coplan and Rubin's(1998) 'Preschool Play Behavior Scale(PPBS),' 'Colorado Child Temperament Inventory(CCTI),' 'Peer Competence Scale(Park & Lee, 2001)' were used as measures of solitary play, temperament, and peer competence, respectively. The data was analyzed by Pearson correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. We found, firstly, young children's temperament had both positive correlation and negative correlation with types of the solitary play. Secondly, young children's peer competence had some negative correlation with solitary play. Thirdly, young children's temperament had positive correlation with peer competence. Fourthly, it was found that activity and leadership predicted 7.4% of solitary-passive play, while emotionality and leadership predicted 5.9% of solitary-active play. This research suggests that each type of the solitary play is unique and independent from each other, thus needing different types of scaffolding from parents and teachers.