Gender Differences In Children's Play

Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) posed many of the questions that early-childhood educators have regarding the role of play in child development. The questions primarily focused on how play amongst children is affected by development, biology, nurture, gender and culture. The authors cite other research, which concludes that though play is universal and cross-cultural, theoretical and empirical evidence support the notion that there are gender differences in the play of children. Citing the social learning theory, Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) argue that children learn gender roles at a very young age due to the positive reinforcement they receive from their parents. The positive reinforcement is indicative of the parents rewarding their children’s

gender-appropriate behaviors.
As a result, boys learn from an early age to prefer more masculine toys and girls learn to prefer more feminine toys. Research shows that, boys tend to prefer more aggressive, physical, and active play whereas girls tend to prefer less aggressive, more collaborative, more social play (Alexander and Hines 1994;Maccoby 1990; Maccoby and Jacklin 1987). Further research from the authors’ study also claim children’s educational abilities and their relationships and behaviors with their peers are influenced by the different components of children’s play. These components also include the child’s preferences of the sex of playmates and play styles (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015).
With regard to migrant children whose first language is Spanish, the authors discuss the importance of using Spanish in their education as a bridge to learn English.

It was my impression that the experimenters emphasized the use of play because research shows that children’s play is universal and that play is a central part of childhood and crosses language barriers. Through their literature review, the authors are suggest, fundamentally boys and girls play differently and culture drives many of the factors that instill children’s gender stereotypes. To show the importance of studying the role culture plays in the development of gender differences, the authors conducted a study that explored the gender differences in the play behaviors of young children of immigrant seasonal farm workers from Mexico.

Hypothesis:

The authors developed three hypotheses that propose results would show statistically significant gender differences in social groupings, language preferences, and in the amount of time that the study’s participants spent on different cognitive tasks while playing in school and at home (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015).

Objective:

This study explored the gender differences in the play behaviors of young children of immigrant seasonal farm workers from

Mexico.

Methodology:
The study was conducted in Central Florida in four accredited Head Start programs that serve children and families of seasonal migrant farm workers (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015). The researchers observed forty-one children; twenty-one were girls and twenty were boys. All the children were between four and five years of age. The children were divided based on age. According to the authors, some children dropped out of the study because their family moved away when strawberry-picking season came to a close. However, it is unclear whether or not the total sample number (41) includes the students who dropped out of the study. The researchers observed the children for a total of 3,113 minutes, observing the boys for a total 1,519 and the females for a total of 1,594. Culturally and socially, 75 percent of participants were born in Mexico, 76 percent lived in basic budget poverty, and 37 percent lived in linguistically isolated families (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015).
Findings:
The objectives of the study were to explore gender differences among preschool aged (four to five years) migrant children, studying their behavior in cognitive tasks, social groupings and language preferences. The pre-school ages participants were observed in two settings, during play in both school and home environments and the experimenters expected to find significant gender differences in all three dimensions of play. In order to assess for the gender differences across the three dimensions and three settings, experimenters calculated the means and standard deviations for the participants. An independent t-tests and multivariate analyses of variance were also conducted (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015). The authors’ hypotheses were not substantiated as the results of the study revealed that the children exhibited no significant gender differences in their play activities in any of the three dimensions or settings (Mathur and Parameswaran, 2015).

Strengths and Limitations:
I thought this was a well-written article that sought to explore the cultural implications of play and gender.

Unlike some of the more dated articles, this article is recent and takes into account some of the past findings about theories of play. As a limitation, the authors stated that instead of just focusing on one small population, it may be helpful to explore the life circumstances of other marginalized groups, such as African American, and observe the differences between those groups with relation to Mexicans who have migrated to the United States. Overall, I think the authors tried to tackle too many things in their research. For example, the authors talked about the use of play in learning English and gender differences in play. For the sample size, it would have been helpful to only focus on one aspect of play instead of formulating three hypotheses and expecting a sample size of 41 students to answer such complex

questions.
I think the authors should have spent more time discussing the importance of play and the reason why play is an important tool/intervention to use when working with young children. Play is a form of expression and a natural way of communication, particularly with children who have not yet formed language or vocabulary to express themselves. The authors could have specifically discussed play therapy and how that can be integrated in schools and language classes to observe gender differences how migrant children play and whether or not play is helpful for native Spanish speakers in learning the English language
Personal experience:
My parents migrated to the United States from Sierra Leone, Africa. Although I was born in the United States, I spent the first six years of my life in Sierra Leone and consider English to be my second language. I moved back to the U.S when I was six-years old and was immediately placed in the 1st grade. Play was not really apart of my education. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why we are starting to see more research on the importance of using play when working with children. I think the my childhood experience with play was more closely related to Jean Piaget’s and Lev S. Vygotsky’s conceptualizations of child development and play and the social learning theory. According to the textbook readings, learning theorists emphasized the role of external factors in shaping personality and social behavior in children (Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg, 2014). According to Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg (2014), development can be guided by how certain behaviors are rewarded, punished or ignored. I remember that I often played with Barbie dolls and cook-sets as opposed to G.I Joe and more masculine sports. I do not remember why I preferred those types of play, other than those were the kinds of toys my parents bought me. I also recall wanting certain toys because I knew that was what my friends and the other little girls I knew played with. I think that I may have been more open to playing with more masculine toys if my parents reinforced that. However, culturally, my parents were more focused on my education than whether or not I was having fun and engaging in play. The same may be true for other migrant families who come to America to find work and to give their children a better life than the one they had.
I think it is important that we continue to explore culture in research. Past research often recruited Caucasian participants and the results and findings were often presented to be all inclusive of the general population. Therefore, I like to see articles that show diversity in participants and explore cultural differences.