Mother-Child Play: Sequential Interactions and
the Relation between Maternal Beliefs and
Behaviors
Amy Melstein Damast
Albert Ehistein College of Medicine
Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda
New York University
Marc H. Bornstein
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
DAMAST, AMY MELSTEIX. T.\Mrs-LEMoxDA, CATHERINE S., and BOHNSTEIX, MARC H .
Mother-Child
Play: Sequential Interactions and the Relation between Maternal Beliefs and Rehaviors. CHILD
DEVELOPMENT, 1996, 67, 17.52-1766. This investigation of mother and toddler play had 2 goals.
The primary goal was to examine the t>'pes of play mothers introduce in direct response to their
tpddlers' play. A secondary' and exploratory goal was to examine the relation between maternal
knowledge about child play and actual maternal play behaviors. 50 mothers and their 21-monthold toddlers were observed at home duimg free play. Mother and child explorator>', nonsymbolic,
and symbolic play were coded. Sequential analyses revealed that mothers adjusted their play to
their children's play level by responding to their children with play that was either at the same
level or at a higher level than their children's play. Furthermore, mothers who were more
knowledgeable about early play development more often responded to their children's play by
introducing higher level play. These flndings suggest that mothers tend to play with their toddlers in ways that might promote their child's development, and that mothers with more knowledge about play development provide their children with appropriately challenging play interactions.
In Western cultures, play often occurs dren's play? Second, if mothers do respond
in a social setting (Haight & Miller, 1993). differentially to their children's play, does
In the child's first few years, when new cog- mothers' knowledge about early play develnitive and social skills are developing, a opment relate to mothers' actual play with
more knowledgeable social partner, like their children?
mother, is thought to facilitate the development of more sophisticated play. Two reIn the first year, children learn about oblated questions about maternal play behav- jects m their environment through exploraiors were investigated in the present study, tion—they mouth, look at, and manipulate
First, are mothers sensitive to their chil- them (e.g., Belsky & Most, 1981; Bornstein
dren's play abilities, adjusting their own & Lamb, 1992; Fein, 1981; Nicolich, 1977;
play as a function ofthe level of their chil- Piaget, 1962). Near the end ofthe first year.
This article is based on a dissertation submitted by the flrst author m partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the doctoral degree in the Department of Psycholog\' at New York University. A.M.D. was supported by an N.Y.U. Predoctoral Fellowship; by research grants HD20559,
HD20807, and MH48915, by an IKTA Fellowship from the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, and by post-doctoral fellowship grant T32HD07384 C T.-L was
supported by research grants HD20559. HD20807, and MH48915. M.H.B. was supported by
research grants HD20559 and HD20807. and by a Research Career Development Award
HD00521 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. A.M.D. thanks
the members of her dissertation committee, D. Ruble, D. Frye, H. Oster, and J. Daws, for
their helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank L. Baumwell, L. Cyphers, H. Comes, J.
Jankowski, R. Kahana-Kalman, S. Kazas, J. McClure, S. Rose, H. Ruff, and C Schmidt for their
assistance. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Amy Melstem Damast or Catherine
Tamis-LeMonda, Department of Applied Psychology', New York Universitv, 239 Creene Street5th Floor, New York, NY 10003.
[Child Development. 1996.67,1752-1766. © 1996 by the Society- for Research in Child Development, Inc.
All rights resented. 6o09-3920/96/6704-0026S01 00]
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein
children begin to engage in nonsymbolic
play as they examine the unique qualities
and functions of objects (e.g., pushing buttons on toy phones, stacking blocks, nesting
cups). During the second year, play more often takes on a nonliteral "as if" quality, as
children incorporate difFerent forms of symbolic play into their repertoires (see Belsky
& Most, 1981; Bornstein & O'Reilly, 1993;
Fein, 1981; Fenson, Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo, 1976; Fenson & Ramsev, 1980;
McCune-Nicolich, 1981; Nicohch, 1977;
Schaefer, Gitlin, & Sandgrund, 1991; TamisLeMotida & Bornstein, 1995; TamisLeMonda, Damast, & Bornstein, 1994; Ungerer, Zelazo, Kearsley, & O'Leary, 1981;
Watson & Fischer, 1977).
\'\'hiile children's play increases in sophistication with age, at any one age children exhibit different levels of play in different social contexts (e.g., Fiese, 1990;
O'Connell & Bretherton, 1984). One possible explanation for this obsen'ation can be
found in Vygotsky's theory of the zone of
proximal development Vygotsky (1978) suggested that children may function between
two levels of development—their actual developmental level and their potential developmental level (i.e., the level at which they
can function iii collaboration with a more experienced partner). Vygotsky and others
(e.g., RogofF, 1990; RogofF & Wertsch, 1984;
Wertsch, 1984, 1985; Zukow, 1986) suggest
that more advanced partners structure interactions that exceed children's actual level
and approach children's potential level,
thereby helping to advance children's actual
level of development. For example, O'Connell and Bretherton (1984) demonstrated
increases in children's play diversity (a
measure fqund to relate to later play
sophistication and intelligence) during collabora;tive play with mother as compared to
solitary play. Similarly, Fiese (1990) showed
tl^at toddlers spent a greater percentage of
their time in nonsjTnbolic and symbolic
play, and a lower percentage of their time in
exploratory piay, during mother-child play
than during play alone.
O'Connell and Bretherton {1984) reported, that it is not simply a mother's presence, but her active participation, that accounts for differences in children's play
across social contexts. Maternal physical attention-focusing behaviors during interaction have been found to predict greater exploratory competence (i.e., a weighted
composite measure of exploration, nonsymbolic play, and symbolic play) during the
1753
first and second years (Belsky, Goode, &
Most, 1980), as well as greater nonsymbolic
play (and less simple exploration) during
the toddler years (Fiese, 1990). Maternal
involvement and turn-taking behaviors are
negatively associated with simple exploration during toddlerhood (Fiese, 1990). In
addition, Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein
(1991) found that mothers' own play behaviors (i.e., gestural and verbal solicitations
and demonstrations of play activities) with
their children relate to their children's play
behaviors: Mothers who engage in more
symbolic play with their 13- and 20-monthoids have toddlers who engage in more symbolic play at these ages.
The literature on maternal responsiveness and child cognitive development
implies that contingency in maternal interactive behaviors might also be central to
children's play behaviors (e.g., Bakeman,
Adamson, Brown, & Eldridge, 1989; Baumwell. Tamis-LeMonda, & Bornstein, 1996;
Beckwith & Cohen, 1989; Bornstein, 1989;
Bornstein & Tamis-LeMonda, 1989; Bornstein, Tamis-LeMonda, et al., 1992; Olson,
Bates, & Bayles, 1984; Olson, Bayles, &
Bates, 1986). This literature demonstrates
that it is not merely the Frequency of positive
maternal interactive behaviors that Facilitates children's development, but rather
both the contingency (i.e., the temporal and
sequential relation) and the appropriateness
(i.e., the content, sophistication, or topic) oF
mothers' behaviors in the context oF the ongoing interaction. In other words, maternal
behaviors have a positive influence on children's development when those behaviors
are both appropriate to and contingent on
children's behaviors.
With respect to the appropriateness oF
maternal play behaviors, developmental
studies suggest tliat the level and the Frequency oF mothers' play relate to their children's age and ability (Belsky et al., 1980;
Brooks-Gunn & Lewis, 1984^ Fiese, 1990;
Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1991). As a
group, mothers tend to suggest more sophisticated play to children when their children
are older and more capable oF this type oF
play (Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1991).
In addition, mothers tend to support their
children's autonomy by offering fewer play
suggestions as children grow older (Belsky
et al., 1980; Fiese, 1990). Thus, it appears
that mothers are generally sensitive to their
children's play abilities in that they change
their behaviors appropriately with child age.
1754
Child Development
Little is known, however, about the contingency (i.e., responsiveness) of maternal
play to children's play. Are mothers adjusting their play responsively to the individual play behaviors of their children (i.e.,
on an episode-by-episode basis)? The first
goal of this investigation was to address this
Qiiestion. Our expectation was that mothers
woiild respond appropriately and contingently to their children's play on an episodeby-episode basis.
Within the context of group sensitivity
to child play behaviors, we expected to find
variability in the extent to which individual
mothers adjust their play to their children's
play. The second, exploratory goal ofthis investigation was, therefore, to examine
whether rnothers' ability to respond sensitively on an episode-by-episode basis to
their children's play is, at least in part, explained by their knowledge ofthe progressive nature of children's play. It has been
suggested that mothers' knowledge about
eertain developing abilities in children relates to their behaviors with their children
(e,g., Goodnow, 1988; Goodnow & Collins,
1990; Hunt & Paraskevopoulos. lOSO; Kophanska, 198|0; McGltlicuddy-DeLisi, 1982;
Miller, 198S'. Sigel, McGiliicuddy-DeLisi, &
Goodnow, 1992; Tamis-LeMonda et al.,
1!J94). In a comprehensive review of parental knowledge of development. Miller (1988)
note^ that parents are gene .rally accurate in
their knowledge of developmental milestones, and tliat variatioi:i among parents in
the aepuraey of their knowledge is predictive (albeit modestly) of their behaviors
wifh their children. Accordingly, we assessed the a^ccuracy of mothers' knowledge
ofthe relative difficultj,' of'vrarious chilcl play
acts and asked whether this knowledige acpounts for variation among mothers in their
responsive play behaviors.
Method
Participants
Fifty mothers (M age = 33 years, SD =
3.4) and their firstborn, 21-month-oId children (Mage = 651 days, SD = 8.5; 26 males,
24 females) participated in this study. Families were recruited from a pediatric unit in
a large urban university hospital and from
Ioeal obstebic groups. All children had un-
eventful perinatal histories and were
healthy and free of any known developmental delays during the course ofthe study.
They were all from middle- and uppermiddle-class intact families (M = 57.7, SD
= 7.6, on the Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status, 1975; Gottfried, 1985),
with 90% of mothers hiiving completed 4 or
more years of college. At the 21-month visit,
45 of the 50 were only children, one had a.
lO-month-old sibling, and four had a sibling
younger than 4months.
Play at Home
Procedures.—Dyads were visited m
their homjas at a time convenient to mother
and child and when only the two would be
present. Data from a 10-min mother-child
free-play session, part ofa larger home visit,
are the focus ofthe present report.^ Mother
and child were filmed while playing with a
standard set of toys that included cups,
plates, spoons, teapot and cover, doll, baby
blanket, baby battle, bus with removable
peopie, sponge, telephone, blocks, and a set
of nesti:ng cups. The toy set represented objects With whieh all children were familiar
in their everyday routines and which lend
tiiemselves to a variety of age-appropriate
actMties. Each mother was instructed to sit
with her child and behave as she normally
would when she and her child played. In
additioii, mothers were asked to ignore the
expenmenter''s presence to the extent possible. Mothers were told that they could use
any or all of the toys provided, but that the
chiM's own ttoys should not be included in
die play session.
Coding.—Mother play and child play
were fioded from Tiddeotapes using an objectcentered, event-sampling procedure. Both
partaers' play was coded using; the mutually
eiclusive codes of exploration, nonsymbolic
play, and symbolic play; during times when
chiiireri were not engaged in one of these
three types of play for 2 or more seconds,
theywere assigned a code af off-task. Maternal play could be verbal (e.g., saying "drink
some tea"), gestural (e.g., pretending to pour
from a teapot into a cup and handing the cup
to tlae qhild to drink), or a combination ofthe
(eig., saying "let's drink tea" and prel
to (feink from a teaeup). The onset
i occurred with the start ofa
1 The entire home visit consisted of four videotaped sessions occumng in a standardized
order- 10 min ofthe child playing alone with a standard set of toys, 10 mm of mother-child tree
play with another set of toys, 10-15 min of experimenter-child play using a third set of toys, and
45 min of naturalistic interaction (during which mdtfeers were free to do whatever they pleased
with or without their childien).
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein
mother's vocalization (e.g., "Call daddy on
the phone") in the case of verbal or verbalgestural play, or with the start of her gesture
(e.g., handing an object to her child, pointing
to an object) or demonstration (e.g., pushing
buttons on a telephone) in the case of gestural play. Children's play was always based
on gestures accompanied by visual regard
and could occur with or without vocalizations. For example, if a child pretended to
drink from a teacup, the child's action was
coded as a single, self-directed symbolic act,
whether or not the child said "drink tea."
Children's play was coded from the onset of
the child's regard. Children's voadizations
in the absence of gestures were not coded
as play to avoid confounding symbolic play
ability with language ability.
For both mother and child, play events
terminated when the player looked at another object, engaged in a thematically unrelated action vvith the same object, or tumed
attention from the toys altogether for a period of 2 or more seconds. As mentioned,
when a child directed attention away from
the toys for 2 or more seconds, the behavior
was coded as off-task.
Based on the above mother and child
play codes, sequences of play acts were obtained by assigning each maternal play act a
code indicating the child's activity' prior to
or at the onset of the act. For example, if
mother s^id "talk on the phone" after the
child manipuiated the phone, the mother's
play was coded as symbolic play preceded
by child exploration. Likewise, if mother put
the lid on the teapot while the child was
"drinldng" from a teacup, the motlier's play
was coded as nonsymbolic play preceded by
a child symbolic act.^ Due to the sequential
nature of interaction, coders made one pass
thrpugh the videotapes, coding both mother
and toddler play togettier. Coders were encouraged to stop and replay segments of interaction to maximize coding accuracy.
Interrater agreement.—Interrater reliabilities were obtained by having two coders
independently score ail mother and child
play behaviors on 10% ofthe sampie for the
entire 10-min session. A.s a first step to assessing interrater agreement, we examined
how often coders agreed on the identification of an event, calculated for children's
1755
and mothers' play separately: percent agreement was 84% for both child and mother
play events. For play acts on which both
coders agreed, reliabilities were calculated
for the level of child play (i.e., for all ehild
acts, whether or not mother responded), the
level of maternal play, and the level of the
child act that preceded maternal play in the
sequence (i.e., only child acts to which
mother responded). Cohen's kappa was used
as a conservative measure of reliability
(Bakeman & Gottman, 1986). Kappas were
good to excellent for each code: K = .67 for
child play level (range = .62 to .76), K = .77
for maternal play level (range = .58 to .95),
and K. = .66 for preceding child level (range
= .54 to .73).
Maternal Knowledge of Play
Mothers' knowledge of child play was
assessed using a questionnaire mailed to
them 1 week prior to the home visit and collected by the experimenter at the completion of the visit. The play activities on the
questionnaire represented one example of
each ofthe levels of a hypothesized 24-level
play scale (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 1994; Appendix A). This 24-level play scale was developed by integrating previousfindingsextant in the literature in order to create a more
comprehensive description of early developmental progressions in play (see Belsky &
Most, 1981; Fenson et al., 1976; Fenson &
Ramsey, 1980; McCune-Nicolich, 1981; Nicolich, 1977; Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein,
1991; Ungerer et al., 1981; Watson &
Fischer, 1977). Seven important transitions
were incorporated into the scale: (1) the
transition from simple exploration to nonsymbolic play; (2) the transition from nonsymbolic play to sy-mbolic play; (3) the transition from seif-directed pretense to
other-directed pretense; (4) the transition
from animate-directed pretense to inanimate-directed pretense; (5) the transition
from single acts of pretense to sequenced
acts of pretense; (6) the transition from
agentive pretense to vicarious pretense; and
(7) the transitionfromliteral pretense to substitutive pretense. Moreover, there is some
consensus that eertain transitions occur before others; for example, the transition from
self-directed to other-directed play is expected to occur before the transition from
literal to substitutive play, on account ofthe
This code system does not imply that the child is always the "initiator" and the mother
always the "respondent" in the interaction. Sequences provide no information conceming which
partner established the topic focus; instead, they describe only how a mother responded to a
particular behavior on the part ofthe child.
1756
Child Development
more complex cognitive demands of substitutive play (i.e., substituting one object for
another requires decontextualization from
the object, whereas other-directed play does
not). Additionally, the scale incorporates the
notion that combinations of components of
play are more difficult to master than are single components of play. For exainpie, pretending to feed a doH with a block (Le., a
combination of pretense toward an inanimate otiier and substitutive pretense) is
jmore difficult than pretending to feed a doll
with a toy bottle (i.e., a single act of pretense
toward an inanimate other),
preliminary' analyses support the hypothesized ordering of these 24 levels of
play (Tamis-LeMonda, Albright, Damast,
Fox, & Bornstein, 1995). In a sample of 108
21-month-old cMtdren (including the 50
children in the present study) playing alone
with the same standard set of toys, the presence or absence of each ofthe 24 play levels
waS coded. The play levels were then rankordered based ofli Uie percentage of children
engaging in each level. The linearity ofthe
hypothesized scale was tested by comparing
these rank-orderings with the ordering in
the proposed scale using Kendairs tau. The
tau was signifiGant, tau = .72, p < .001, indiCE^ting substaiitial agreement between the
hypothesized play scale and the order observed during toddlers' solitary play.
Examples ofthe 2,4 play levels were preseiited in random order on the questionnaire, (The labels of the play levels that appear in Appendix A were not provided.)
Mothers were asfed to rarik the 24 different
play activities iix order of increasing difficillti,', wfith 1 being the easiest and 24 the
most difficult
Results
Results are discussed in the following
order. f;irst, base rates of the three levels of
maternal play, the four levels of child play,
and the rates with which these child levels
precedecl maternal play are presented and
analvzed using analyses of variance. Second,
analyses of the sequences of mother and
child piay behaviors are reported. The goal
of these analyses was to describe dependencies of maternal play on preceding child
play. Finally, relations between maternal
knowledge of child play development and
observed maternal play are reported. For
these analyses, measures of the accuracy of
materiial knowledge of progressions in child
play and specific patterns of maternal responsive play were related to one another.
For each set of analyses, dyads that did
not have complete data on all pertinent variables were not included. For example, in
ANOVAs investigating matenial nonsymbolic play, mothers who did not engage in
nonsymbolic play were necessarily excluded. As a consequence, reported results
are based on samples of 42 to 50 dyads. Prior
to analysis, data were examined for extreme
bivariate outliers using scatterplots. Cook's
D, Stud.enti2ed Deleted Residual, and Leverage statistics. Four dya:ds whose individual data altered the significance ofthe correlations (either positively or negatively)
between maternal knowledge about play
arid ma^ternal play behaviors were excluded
from tfte correlation analyses (Judd &
MeClelland, 1989). Finally, because the
AMO'teAs reVealed no consistent differences
in the base rates of maternal and child play
by chiid gerider, and there were no gender
differetiees in any ofthe sequential analyses,
results are presented for the entire sample.
Descriptive Analyses of Base Rates of
Mother and Child Play
The mean frequencies and proportions
(number of maternal play acts at each level
of play divided by the total number of maternal plaj' acts, calculated separately for each
mpthelr) of tlie three levels pf maternal play
are presented in Table 1. A within-subjects
rejaeatfed-measures ANOVA identified significMt differences in the base rates (i.e.,
frequebiCies) of the differerit play levels, F(2,
98) = lCP.94,p < .001. Specifically, mothers
pidtflptfid more symbolic play than either
expiorkton or nonsymbolic play, is(49) =
Xi.64 aitd 10.67, respectively, ps < .001.
They showed no difference in their rates of
esplofation and nonsynabolic play, f(49) <
I. (Ptfesnits for all descriptive analyses were
identicsil when transfortned proportions
were used as the dependent measure.)
The mean frequencies and proportions
(nurnt>er of child play acts- at each play level
diyi&d by the total rmmber of child play
acts, paJeuiated separately for each child) of
the three childi play levels and off-task episodes are also presented in Table 1. These
rates rgpi-esent the tdtal number of child acts
diujdg Ilie play session (iiot just the subset
of chiilcl acts to which mcfjhars responded). A
within-subjects repeated-fioeasures ANOVA
e differences in rates, F(3, 147) =
, p < .001^ Child(eii engaged in explo-
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein
1757
TABLE 1
BASE R \ T E S OF MATERNAL PL.4IY AND C H I L D ACTIVITIES BY LEVEL
Level of Play
Mother:
Exploratory
Nons>'mbolic
Symbolic
Child:
Explorator\'
Nonsymbolic
Symbolic
OfF-task
Mean
Range
SD
9.5 (.20)
8.8 (.18)
30.8 (.63)
0-24 (.00-.46)
0-27 (.00-.52)
4-63 (.14-.93)
5.0 (.10)
6.6 (.12)
12.7 (.16)
35 9 (.43)
11.8 (.14)
18.2 (.22)
18 2 (.22)
13-51
0-30
5-43
10-.32
(.24-.59)
f.00-.28)
(.07-.40)
(.11-.35)
8.4
7.4
7.5
5.4
(.08)
(.08)
(.08)
( 05)
NOTE —Proportions in parentheses.
ration more often than they were off-task or
engaged in nonsymbolic or symbolic play,
ts(49) = 13.50, 17.89, and 11.60, ps < .001,
respectively. (This may occur because children often orient to and explore objects before engaging in nonsymbolic and symbolic
play.) In addition, children were off-task or
engaged in symbolic play more frequently
than they engaged in nonsymbolic play,
ts(49) = 5.04 and 3.93, ps < .001, respectively. There was no difference in the rates
at which children were off-task or engaged
in symbolic play, f(49) < 1.
The mean frequencies and proportions
(number of maternal piay acts in response to
each level of child play divided by the total
number of maternal play acts, calculated
separately for each dyad) of mothers' play
responses to each level of child play are presented in Table 2. Maternal play responses
were collapsed across level of maternal play
in order to question what mothers were responding to in their children's play, exclusive of how they were responding. A withinsubjects
repeated-measures
ANOVA
indicated a difference in the number of
times mothers responded to the different
levels of child play, F(3, 147) = 42.14, p <
.001. Specifically, greater numbers of maternal play responses were offered when children were either off-task or exploring than
when they were engaged in either nonsymbolic or symbolic play, ^(49) = 9.67, p <
.001. Additionally, mothers responded more
frequently when children were engaged in
exploration than when they were off-task or
engaged in nonsymbolic or symbolic play,
ts{49) = 4.12, 11.17, and 6.05, respectively,
ps < .001. Mothers also responded more frequently when children were off-task than
when they were eagaged in nonsymbolic or
symbolic play, ts{49) = 8.30 and 2.72, ps <
.001 and .01, respectively. Lastly, mothers
responded more frequently when children
were engaged in symbolic play than when
they were engaged in nonsymbolic play,
t(49) = 3.95, p < 001.
The Sequential Nature of Mother-Child
Play Interactions
Mother-child play sequences were analyzed by first calculating transitional probabilities for all combinations of the three levels of maternal play (i.e., exploration,
nonsymbolic play, symbolic play) and four
TABLE 2
M.\TEHNAL PLAY BY LEVEL OF PRECEDING CHILD PL^Y ACT
Level of Preceding
Child Play Act
Off-task"
Exploratory
Nonsymbolic
Symbolic
Mean
. 12.6
17 0
56
9.7
(.29)
(.38)
(.12)
(.22)
Range
3-28
.3-39
0-16
0-25
(.12-.53)
(.15-.61)
(.00-33)
(.00-..50)
SD
5.5
7.7
4.4
6.1
(.10)
(.10)
(.08)
(.12)
NOTE —Proportions in parentheses
" OfF-task episodes iire included as child play acts because they, like
child play acts, represent children's attention at the time mothers choose
to o£fer play suggestions.
1758
Chad Development
levels of preceding child play (i.e., off-taslc,
exploration, norisymbolic play, symbolic
play), using the formulas and procedures detailed by Bakeman and Gottman (1986).
These transitional probabilities were then
converted to z scores, and the z scores were
used as dependent variables in subsequent
analyses. Z scores control for the base rates
of both the "given" and "target" behaviors.
Table 3 provides descriptive data of the frequencies of the 12 child play—mother play
sequences.
Z scores were used to examine differences between t t e observed rates ofthe sequeiices and their expected rates given the
observed base rate probabilities of the individual "given" and "target" events (i.e.,
Bakeman & Gottman's, 1986, "first-order"
mode! for generating expected probabilities). For exampie, a large positive z score
associated with a particular sequence would
sign!ffy a greater occurrence of that sequence
than would be expected by chance given the
base rates of both the child level an^ the
mother play level, a large negative z score
assoiiiated with the same sequence would
indicate a lower probability ofthis sequence
than vvould be expected by chance.
J h e dependency of mother play on
child play was examined in two ways. First,
using one-sample t tests (witli the mean z
scoris for each sequence as the dependent
variable), the probability of each child play-^
mother play sequence was compared with
its expected probability (i.e., chance).^ For
example, the probability' of maternal symbolic play subsequent to a ehild engaging in
exploration, adjusted for the probabilities of
both child exploration and materrial symbolic play, was cpnjpflretd With the simple
probability of maternal syrtibolic play (i.e.,
the probability of matem^ synibolic play occurring by chance). Thus, Hie effect of each
child play level on the probability of each
maternal play level was determined. In addition, for each level of maternal play, tlie
probabilities of the four child play-mother
piay sequences were also ccjHipared to one
another. For example/the lifcelihood of maternal symbolic play given ehiid exploration
was compared to the likelihood of maternal
symboiic^play given child ndnsy-mbolic play.
To do so, z scores for all aftbie sequences of
maternal play and clillci preceding level
were entered into a 3 (maternal piay level)
X 4 (preceding child play level) withinsubjects repeated-measures ANOVA to compare the difference from expected probability' ofthe differen.t sequences. This ANOVA
indicated ^ significant interaction of maternal play level x preceding child play level,
F(6, 258) = 33.73, p < .001. These results
are presented in Table 4.
Figure 1 displays z scores for each child
play-mather plag sequence. When comparing the four maternal exploratory z scores to
cbaiice, maternal exploratory play was preceded by child ofF-task episodes significantly more often than would be expected
by chance, f(49) = 8.43, p < .001, and it was
preceded by child exploration, nonsymbolic
play, and symbolic play less often than
would be expected by chance, <s(49) =3.28,
2.22, and 5.72, ps < .01, .05, and .001, respectively. Consequently, when comparing
the foiir maternal exploratory play s scores to
each otfeer, child off-task episodes increased
the likelihood of maternal exploratory piay
sigiiificaatly more than did child exploration, iioiisj'rnbolic play, and symbolic play,
*(48| = 7.m,t{44) = 6.60, and *(47) = 8.64,
respectively, ps < .001.
When comparing the four maternal nonsymbolic play z scores to chance, maternal
nonsymbolic play was preceded by child
nonsyiabolic play significantly more often
than would be expected by chance, f(49) =
6.43. p < -OOl, by ehild symbolic play significantly less often than expected by
chance, t(49) = 8.89, p < .001, and by offtask episodes and exploration at rates expected by chance, ts(49) =5= .85 and 1.50, N.S.
Consequently, when comparing the four maternal nonsymbolic play z scores to each
other, child nonsymbolic play increased the
likelihood of maternal nonsymbolic play significantly more than did child off-task episodes., esploration, and symbolic play, ts(44)
= aiiT, 4.SO, and 3.86, respectively, ps <
.001.
When comparing the four maternal symbolic play z scores to chance, maternal symbolic play was preceded by child symbolic
play significantlv more often than would be
exp'ected by chance, *(49) = 9.62, p < .001,
by off-task episodes and nonsymbolic play
significantly less often than would be expected by chance, *st49) = 6.26 and 4.37,
ps < .001, respectively, and by child explo-
^ Comparisons to chance can also be made by pooling the data across dyads, and calculating
transitional probabiUties and their associated z scores from the pooled data. Both approaches
provided essentially the same results.
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein 1759
TABLE 3
MATERNAL PLAY BY LEVEL AXD BY LEVEL OF PRECEDING
CHILD PLAY
Level of Maternal Play and
Level of Preceding Child Play
Maternal exploratory play;
Child off-task
'
Child exploration
Child nonsjnnbolie play
Child symbolic play
Maternal nonsymbolic play.
Child off-task
Child exploration
Child nonsymbolic play
Child symbolic play
Maternal symbolic play:
Child off-task
Child exploration
Child Bonsymbolic play
Child symbolic play
TABLE 4
DiFFEREXCES IN Z SCORES RY M A T E F X A L
LEVEL AXD BY PRECEDING CHILD LEVEL
Maternal Play Level
and Comparison of
Preceding Child Level
Exploratory:
O-T vs. EXP
O-T vs. NS
O-T vs. SYM
EXP vs. NS
EXP vs. SYM
NS vs. SYM
Nonsymbolic:
O-T vs. EXP
O-Tvs. NS
O-T vs. SYM
EXPvs. NS
EXP vs. SYM
NS vs. SYM
SjTnbolic:
O-T vs. EXP
O-Tvs. NS
O-T vs. SYM
EXP vs. NS
EXP vs. SYM
NS vs. SYM
n*
t
p
49
45
48
45
48
45
7.30
6.60
8.64
-0.49
180
2.97
.001
.001
.001
.078
.005
49
45
48
45
48
45
-1.42
-4.80
4.35
-3.86
5.92
9.37
.001
.001
.001
.001
.001
50
46
49
46
49
46
-4.95
-1.45
-9.71
4.23
-6.31
-9.57
.001
.001
.001
.001
.001
NOTE —O-T off-task; EXP. exploraticn, NS: nonsymbolic play, SYM- symbolic play
^ n for each analysis vanes as a result of tbe absence
of certain sequences in lndiwdual dyads
Mean
Range
SD
4.4
2.8
0.8
0.8
0-13
0-4
3.1
2.3
1.2
1.1
2.1
3.3
2.2
0.6
0-7
0-16
0-9
0-3
17
34
2.5
0.8
6.2
10.6
2.6
83
1-16
2-23
0-10
0-24
3.6
.5.2
2.5
5.6
0-8
0-.5
ration at a rate expected by chance, f(49) =
1.32, N.S. Gonsequently, when comparing
the four maternal symbolic play z scores to
each other, child s\TTibolic play increased
the likelihood of maternal symbolic play significantly more than did child off-task episodes, exploration, and nonsymbolic play,
t(48) = 9.71, t{4o) = 9.57, and t(48) = 6.31,
respectively, ps < .001.
In summary, sequential analyses revealed noteworthy patterns with respect to
both increases and decreases in the likelihood of certain levels of maternal play given
certain levels of child play. When children
were off-task or engaged in exploration, the
greatest increase in probability (although
not always a significant increase above the
rate expected by chance) occurred at a maternal play level one level higher than children's play level (i.e., mothers suggested exploration when children were off-task, and
nonsymbolic plav when children were exploring). In contrast, when children engaged
in nonsymbolic and symbolic play, the greatest increase in probability occurred at a maternal play level that matched the preceding
child activity (i.e., mothers suggested nonsymbolic play when children engaged in
nonsymbolic pla}/, and symbolic play when
children engaged in symbolic play). Maternal play that was either lower or much
higher (i.e., three levels higher) than children's ongoing play decreased in likelihood.
Exploratory analyses were conducted
next to determine whether mothers were responding to their children's nonsymbolic
1760
Child Development
z~score
1.50 r
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
Exploratory
Nonsymboiic
Symbolic
Maternal Play Level
^B
i
Child Off-task
Child Exploratory
-I Chiid Nonsymbolic
Child Symbolic
• p < 06, " p < 01, " • p < 001
FIG 1.—Maternal play level by child play level
and symbolic play with play that was lower
than, equal to, or higher than their children's
preceding play act within the nons^inbolic
and symbolic play categories (see Appendix
A). Specifically, for each maternal nonsymbolic play act that followed a child nonsymbolic play act, and for each maternal symbolic play act that followed a child symbolic
play act, both maternal play and preceding
child play were coded using the levels ofthe
24-level play scale. Mothers' play was then
recoded as being lower than, equal to, or
higher than the level of the preceding child
play. (Interrater reliabilities, using the codings of the same five dyads as above, were
again good to excellent: K = 1.00 for nonsymbolic levels and K = .63 for symbolic
levels.) For example, if a child stirred with
a toy spoon in a cup and the mother stirred
with another spoon in another cup, she was
matching the child's overall level of symbolic play as well as the more specific symbolic act of self-directed single act pretense.
On the other hand, if a child stirred with a
toy spoon in a cup and the mother suggested
that the child "feed the dolly," the mother
was matching the child's overall level of
symbolic play, but vvas prompting the child
to a higher level within symbolic play by
suggesting that the child include an inanimate other in a sequence of two different
pretense schemes. The frequencies of each
of these three categories of response (i.e.,
lower than, equal to, or higher than the preceding child play level), within nonsymbohc
and symbolic play separately, were summed
and used in subsequent analyses.
Within-subjects
repeated-measures
ANOVAs were used to identify differences
in the frequencies of lower, equal, or higher
maternal nonsymbolic and symbolic play behaviors separately. For both maternal nonsymbolic and symbolic play, there were significant main effects, F(2, 98) = 3.61, p <
.05, and F(2, 98) = 34.50, p < .001, respectively. Mothers were more likely to suggest
nonsymbolic or symbolic play at levels
equal to or higher than the level of their children's preceding nonsymbolic or symbolic
play, rather than lower than the preceding
level of child play, ts(49) = 2.44 and 2.25,
ps < .05, and ts(49) = 6.95 and 8.97, ps <
.001, respectively. There were no significant
differences in the rates at which mothers
suggested nonsymbolic or symbolic play at
the same level as their children's preceding
nonsymbolic or symbolic play or at a higher
level than the preceding child play level,
ts{4Q) < 1.
Relations between Maternal Knowledge
about Play and Maternal Play
Maternal play summary measure.—To
examine relations between maternal knowl-
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein
edge of play and maternal play, a siagle measure of maternal play was created. The goal
was to create a measure of play to index
mothers' attempts to "scaffold" their children's play (i.e., attempts to help tlieir children reach their potential level of performance). For each dyad, the mean of the
transitional probabilities of seven play sequences was calculated; these sequences
are represented in Appendix B.* Sequences
were selected to represent instances in
which mothers responded with play at levels
that were higher than the level of the preceding child activity. Thus, higher values on
this measure indicate a greater tendency of
mothers to engage in more advanced levels
of play relative to their children's own play.
The theoretical basis of this measure was
Kuhn's (1972) finding that children are motivated to perform at advanced stages (in Piagetian tasks) when they witnessed behaviors
performed at stages higher than Ilieir own
stage, As a group, mothers offered 45% (SD
= 7%) of their play responses at levels
higher than the preceding child play level.
Accuracy of maternal knowledge of
play progressions.—Because the task of
ranking 24 different child play acts might be
difficult for mothers, the first set of analyses
investigated how accurate mothers, as a
group, were in their knowledge of early play
development (see also Tamis-LeMonda et
al., 1994). Correlation analyses revealed
strong agreement between both ithe mean
and modal maternal rankings ofthe play acts
and the hypothesized play scale, rs = .88 for
both analyses. Further analyses explored the
accuracy of mothers' knowledge ofthe transitions in play overviewed above. Specifically, the percentage of mothers ranking the
more difficult play act as higher than the less
difficult act (e.g., the percentage of mothers
ranking other-directed pretense higher than
self-directed pretense) was compared to
chance using z scores. These analyses again
revealed that mothers are accurate in their
knowledge of play development. Mothers
ranked exploratory play as easier ilian nonsymbolic play, and nonsymbolic play as easier th^n symbolic play. Moreover, within
symbolic play, mothers ranked pretending
toward self as easier than pretending toward
Other, single acts of pretense as easier than
1761
sequenced acts of pretense, literal pretense
as easier than substitutive pretense, and
agentive pretense as easier than vicarious
pretense. (All p values for z scores ranged
from .05 to .001.)
A measure of the overall accuracy of
each mother's rankings was generated by
correlating her ranking of the 24 play acts
with the hypothesized play scale. As a
group, individual mothers' rankings of these
acts correlated highly with the empirical
scale, mean r = ,69, SD = .16. There was,
however, substantial individual variation in
these correlations, with scores ranging from
.09 to .91.
Correlation between maternal knowledge about play and. maternal play summary measure.— To examine the relation
between maternal knowledge of play and
observed maternal play, mothers' accuracy
in ranking play was correlated with the maternal play summary measure. Mothers
whose rankings of play corresponded more
closely with the hypothesized scale responded to their children's play with play
that was higher in level than the preceding
child play level, n41) = .33, p < .05. In addition, although four of the seven sequences
included in this score involved mothers'
suggesting symbolic play to their children,
maternal knowledge of play development
was unrelated to mothers' overall frequency
of suggesting symbolic play, r(41) = .10,
N.S. Thus, maternal knowledge about play
is related to the specific coordination of the
levels of mothers' and children's play, rather
than mothers' overall level of play.
Discussion
The present study investigated the level
and contingency of maternal play on children's play, as well as the possibility that the
accuracy of mothers' rankings of the difficulty of child play acts accounts, in part, for
the content of mothers' play. Results indicated that mothers are sensitive to the level
of their children's play, adjusting the level
of their own play to their children's play in
both a macroanalytic manner (i.e., considering base rate frequencies and unconditional
probabilities) and a microanalytic manner
(i.e., considering episode-by-episode se-
Transitional probabilities were used, rather than frequencies or unconditional probabilities, because they control for tlie base rate of the child act. This was considered necessary
because certain levels of toddler play force mothers' prompts to he higher than child play. For
example, when children are off-+ask, any maternal prompt is necessarily higher than children's
play.
1762
Ghild Development
quences and transitional prohabilities). In
addition, mothers who are more knowledgeable about play development tend to suggest
play to their children at a more sophisticated
level than their children's ongoing play.
evaluating the generalizability of
these findings, it may be important to consider charact:eristics of the sample particular
to this investiga^tion. Specifically, the mothers who participated in this study were
somewhat older, more educated, and of a
higher socioeconomic background. Maternal
knowledge of and sensitivity to play may differ in younger mothers, less educated mothers, arid mothers from other socioeconomic
or cultural backgrounds.
From a macroanalytie perspective,
mothers are sensitive to the level of sophistication of their ehildren's play acflvities, and
they adjust the frequency and the level of
their play responses based on the level of
their children's play. Across the play session
as a whole^ motliers suggest play to their
children most frequently at the overall level
of their children's play; both toddlers and
motliers engage in more symbolic play than
noasj'mbolic play. In addition, mothers offer
significantly more play resporises when their
children are engaged in less sophisticated
activities (i.e., when off-task or engaged in
px|pibration). In contrast, when their children are engaged in aiore sophisticated activities (i.e., in norisyriibolic or symbolic
play), mothers offer fewer play suggestions.
These findings concur with other evidence of parental sensitivity to developmental level and parental support of autonomy in ehildren. As described by Macceby
(1984), parents generally appear to be sensitiye to the developmental abilities of their
ciiiidren, adjusting their own actions, over
time, to accommodiafe their children's
emerging a(bij:it;ies. Maccoby suggested that
paretafaJ nijenitoring of ehildren's nidmentby-moment; behaviors is firequent during in-^
fancy and tfjdidlerhodd/ Specific exi3«nE>les of
parents' ad|iistiHg their behavior across time
are (Siyident: in a variety of parentirigd0m:ains
(Bornstein. Tal, et al., 1992; lEeckhausen,
1987; O'Cdnneti & Brethertbii, }Mk Pawjnt
Moss GoBselin:; & St;-ta«.rtent: 1993; logofi;
Ellis, & Gardner, i§M; Tamis-LeiMonda &
Bornstein, 199J). For instance, mothers tend
to show decreases iin particular interactions
and increases in others as their children
grow dlder^attd imore co!rapeteirt(e.f., Belsky
et al.. I980;'fieirnstein & Taniis-LeMonda,
199b; Rogoff, Malkin, & Gilbride, 1984).
Data from the present study advance our understanding ofthis dynam^ic by demonstrating that mothers also adjust the frequency of
their suggestions on an episode-by-episode
basis at any one age. That is, they provide
more play suggestions when their children
are engaged in "less cornpetent" (i.e., offtask and simple exploratory) behaviors, and
they provide fewer play suggestions when
their children are engaged in "more competent" (i.e., nonsymbolic and symbolic play)
behaviors.
From a microanalytic perspective,
mothers appear to adjust the level of their
play contingent on their children's play,
thereby functioning withiri their children's
"?:One of proximal deyelopment" (ZPD; Rogoff & Wertsch, 1984; Vygotsky, 1978).
When children are engaged in less sophisticated activities, mothers are likely to respond with play at one level higher than
their children's level. Mothers attempt to focus their children's attention to the toys
\¥hen their children are oJEf-task, and (though
not significantly above chance levels) to encourage their children to engage in nonsymbolie play when they are involved in simple
objed manipulation. Thus, at these times
mothtirs appear to use their play to "channel" their children's behavior toward focus
on toys and more sophisticated levels of jalay
(Hodapp, Goldfield, & Boyatzis, 1^84;
TroutiTian, Hazen, & Cook, 1992). When
children are engaged in more sophisticated
play, mothers are more likely to match their
oVvn play to the level of their children's play,
or to engage in higher levels of play within
the broader categories of nonsymbolic and
sjTuboIic play. This strategj^^ enables mothers to elaborate on their children's behaviors
at the same level.
Decreases in the likelihood of certain
maternal play behaviors in response to certain toddler behaviors also support the notion that mothers generally function within
their children's "zone of proximal development " Decreases in the likelihood of maternal exploiatory play when preceded by child
nonsvmbolie and child symbolic play, and
decreases in the likelihood of maternal nonsymbolic play when preceded by child symbolic play, indicate that mothers tend wot to
respoiid to their children's play with play
that is lower in level (i.e., below their children's ZPD). The same pattem holds true
when ea;a.minin.g trends within nonsymbolic
and within symbolic play; mothers tend to
make suggestions that are equal or higher in
level, rtot lower in level, than their chil-
Damast, Tamis-LeMonda, and Bornstein
1763
dren's play. A decrease in the likelihood of
maternal exploratory play when preceded bychild exploration suggests that motlbers tend
not to orient their children to a toy when
their children are already examining it, or
shift their children's focus from one toy to
another. In addition, although mothers engaged in more symbolic play than nonsymbolic play across the play session, they did
not tend to suggest symbolic play in response to their children's nonsymbolic play
or off-task behaviors. Overall, these results
might suggest that mothers' play behaviors
with their children serve to scaHbld their
children's play on an episode-by-episode basis and across the entire play session. Furthermore, the data suggest that children's
dyadic play behaviors guide their mothers'
participation in play interactions; mothers
appear to use their children's play cues (e.g.,
object focus, actions) as a framework for their
own play behaviors with their children.
likely to respond to their children's play
with play that is more sophisticated. The ef^
feet size of this correlation is modest and
comparable to relations between parental
knowledge and behavior in other domains
reported in the literature (Miller, 1988). On
a macroanalytic level, no relation emerged
between maternal knowledge about play
and overall frequency of maternal symbolic
play. Thus, mothers who are more knowledgeable about early play development respond sensitively on an episode-by-episode
basis, rather than simply offering more symbolic play suggestions across the entire session, irrespective of tiieir children's current
play level. These differences in sensitivity
between macroanalytic and microanalytic
analyses of knowledge and scaffolding behaviors reinforce the value of considering
the sequential nature of interactions (see
also Lewis & Lee-Painter, 1974; Tingley &
Golden, 1992).
Beyond the empirical contribution, the
present investigation expands the extant
play literature methodologically. The use of
sequential analyses allowed for a more detailed examination of an important aspect of
sensitive maternal interactive behavior—
contingency. It is evident that motliers' sensitivity to their children's developmental
level is both global (i.e., aeross an entire play
session) and specific (i.e., on an episode-byepisode basis). It also became evident,
through these analyses, that matches between the levels of children's and mothers'
play observed in the literature (e.g., TamisLeMonda & Bornstein, 1991) are at least partially detennined by mothers' contingent,
sensitive responding.
Research investigating parental cognitions has tended to explore relations between cognitions and developmental outcomes in children (Miller, 1988); these
relations have frequently been examined
with little regard to the parental behaviors
that might mediate them, although the need
for such data has been discussed (Hunt &
Paraskevopoulos, 1980; Kindermann & Skinner, 1989). Furthermore, parental cognitions
are ofiten investigated in relation to reports
of parental behaviors (either self-reports or
e.xperimenter-completed reports) rather than
to direct observations of parental interactions (Sigel et al., 1992, Stevens, 1984). Finally, when parental knowledge about development is related to parenting behavior,
researchers have typically assessed (1)
knowledge of general milestones and development (e.g., the KIDI, MacPhee, 1981; the
KEID, Stevens, 1984) and/or (2) more general parenting stj'les £tnd practices (e.g., authoritative/authoritarian parenting; Kochanska, 1990). By relating parental cognitions in
the domain of play to observed parental behaviors in the same domain, the present
study takes a step toward elucidating speciRcity in the interplay betvveen maternal cognitions and actual mother-child interactions.
Analyses of mothers' knowledge of play
revealed that mothers, as a group, are knowledgeable about development in eaily play.
Nonetheless, interesting and in.Formative
variation among mothers does exist. From a
microanalytic perspective, mothers' knowledge ofthe progressive nature of play relates
to episode-by-episode adjustments in their
play with their children. Mothers who are
more knpwledgeable about the relative difficult>' of various toddler play acts are more
1764 Ghild Development
Appendix A
Empirical Play Scale
Level
Exploration:
(1) Mouthing
(2) Simple rtlanipulatidn
Nonsymbolic play:
(3) Unitary functional
(4) Inappropriate ci^mbinations
(o) Combinatioiis based on perception
(6) Combinations based on function
Symbolic play:
(7) Self
(8) Agentive animate
(9) Agentive inanimate
(10) Sequenced self
(11) Sequenced agentive animate
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
Sequenced agentive inanimate
Vicarious
Self substitution
Agentive animate substitution
Agentive inanimate substitution
Sequenced vicarious
Action on Mothers' Questionnaire
(1) Suck block.
(2) Hold spoon and look at it.
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18) Sequenced self substitution
(IS)
(19) Sequenced agentive animate substitution
(19)
(20) Sequenced agentive inanimate substiItution
(21) Vicarious substitution
(20)
(22) Sequenced vicarious substitution
(22)
(23) Self-removed
(24) Emotive
(23)
(24)
Sequences in Maternal Play Summary Score
(1) Exploration
(2) Nonsymbolic
play
(3) Nonsymbolic
play
(4) Symbolic play
(5) Symbolic play
(6) Symbolic play
(7) Symbolic play
Feed self with toy spoon
Wash mom with toy sponge.
Rock doll.
Stir in toy cup and eat from toy spoon.
Pour into toy cup from toy teapot and feed
inom.
Cover doll with blanket and pat to sleep.
Make; doll wave "hi."
Use block as sponge and wash own face.
Put toy plate on mom's head as hat.
Use spoon as brush and brush doll's hair.
Make stuffed bear walk to toy car and
drive away.
Stir in toy pot with comb as spoon and eat
from comb.
Feed mom with block and wipe her mouth
with t()y sponge.
Wash doll with block as sponge and dry
vvith towel.
Jifake toy person drive away in nesting cup
as car.
Fut toy bib on doll as coat and make her
walk,
Make one doll kiss another doll.
Make doll fall down and cry.
References
Appendix B
Mother Suggests
(21)
Turn wheel on toy car.
Put toy dish on car.
Stack toy plates.
Put toy lid on teapot.
When Child Is
(1) Off-task
(2) Off-task
(3) Exploring
(4) OfF-task
(5) Exploring
(6) Engaged in nonsymbolic play
(7) Engaged in symbolic
l
' when a 21-month-old engaged m symbolic play, a
mother who suggests symbolic play is suggesting play at
an appropriately sophisticated level given the age of the
child and is considered to be scafFoldmg her child's play
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