About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 8. Education, Schooling

Abstract

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Background. A resurgence of research on play suggests that it is an important driver of learning and development. Caregivers are instrumental in integrating play into their children’s lives as they have an overarching impact across all contexts (Eichner, 2023; Jeynes, 2012). Therefore, it is important to further understand parents’ views on play.

Previous survey research reports that caregivers appreciate the merits of play (LaForett & Mendez, 2017a, 2017b) and view play as a tool for learning (Bugallo et al., 2024). Yet, caregiver beliefs about the value of play may not translate to frequent engagement in play-based behavior with their children. For instance, whereas caregivers in Shanghai, China indicated positive beliefs about play, these beliefs were not associated with the amount of time they reported playing with their children. Caregivers attributed this discrepancy to time constraints or lack of safe spaces to play in their community (Lin et al., 2019). In another study, Australian caregivers experiencing intergenerational poverty reported positive beliefs about play, but ultimately, did not believe it was their role to facilitate play (Smith et al., 2015).

Therefore, in this presentation we ask: Do caregivers believe that play is important? Do caregivers’ beliefs translate to engagement in play with their children? And, if not, how is this discrepancy associated with demographic factors that may make a home environment more receptive or restrictive to play.

Method. Caregivers of children aged 0-10 (N = 366, see Table 1) living in the United States completed a Qualtrics survey that included questions about how much time they spent playing with their children versus how much time they wished they spent playing with their children during a typical week. We expected to find inconsistencies between caregivers’ beliefs and behaviors. Furthermore, we examined whether any reported discrepancies were associated with income, race, or parent gender given research showing that caregiver play-based beliefs are impacted by demographic factors (e.g., education level, ethnicity; Fogle & Mendez, 2006).

Results. Consistent with prior work, we found a gap between how much parents desired to play with their children and how much they actually played (p <0.0001, d= -0.67). This gap was consistent across income (p= 0.11, η²=0.04), race (p= 0.07, η²=0.04), and parent gender (p=0.87, d = 0.02). Furthermore, we examined time spent playing with children and found that this did not vary significantly based on income (p=0.24, η²= 0.29), race (p=0.13, η²= 0.03), or parent gender (p =0.69, η²= 0.004).

Discussion. The present work found that parents across incomes, races, and genders wished that they played more with their children than they did. It is therefore imperative to understand how we can support parents across populations to bridge this gap so that children and families can reap the benefits in learning, development, and parent-child relationships (Hassinger-Das & Fletcher, 2023).

Author information

Author	Role
Jade Robinson, Temple University	Presenting author
Allyson S. Masters, NYU Grossman School of Medicine	Non-presenting author
Annelise Pesch, Temple University	Non-presenting author
Roberta M. Golinkoff, University of Delaware	Non-presenting author
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University	Non-presenting author

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