Preschoolers, Parents, and Peers: Child Temperament and Parenting Styles as Predictors of Peer Play

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations among child temperament, parenting styles, and peer interactive play behaviors. Parents of 44 preschoolers provided ratings of their children’s temperament on the Behavioral Style Questionnaire (BSQ; McDevitt & Carey, 1978) and ratings of their children’s interactive play behaviors on the Peer Interactive Play Scale (PIPPS; Fantuzzo, Sutton-Smith, Coolahan, Manz, Canning, & Denham, 1995). Parents also rated their perceptions of their own parenting behaviors and their relationships with their children on the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI; Gerard, 1994). It was hypothesized that child temperament and parenting styles would predict children’s peer play behaviors, such that children with more desirable temperament traits and those whose parents engaged in more authoritative parenting behaviors would exhibit positive behaviors during peer play interactions. In contrast, it was hypothesized that children with more difficult temperaments and parents who engaged in less positive parenting behaviors would exhibit more negative play behaviors. Results indicate that personal-social flexibility and parental limit-setting were found to be significantly related to play disconnection and disruption.