THE REASONS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN TO LIKE AND DISLIKE PLAYING WITH THEIR FRIENDS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to reveal the reasons for young children to like and dislike playing with their friends. There were two groups in the study. The first group included 147 preschool children who were in the age group of 5-6 years and were living in Turkey. The second group included 60 preschool children who were in the age group of 5-6 years and were living in the North Cyprus. Interview method was used as data collection tool. In the sociometry technique-based method, the researcher asked the children four questions in a quiet room outside the classroom. According to the results, young children attach importance to social skills, mutual sharing, spending time outside plays and relationships based on kindness and love in their peer relationships and they dislike rude, bullying and disorderly behaviors. While the children in the study groups expressed their playmate choices, they stated more criteria as their reasons to dislike than their reasons to like, which is noteworthy in terms of revealing problems young children faced in their peer relationships.

Keywords: Friendships, young children, play

REFERENCES  

Ahmetoğlu, E., Acar, İ. H., & Aral, N. (2016). Reliability and validity study of penn interactıve peer play scale-parent form (PIPPS-P) [in Turkish]. Electronic Turkish Studies, 11(9), 31-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.9634

Beyazkürk, D., Anlıak, Ş., & Dinçer, Ç. (2007). Peer relations and friendship in childhood [in Turkish]. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research (EJER), 26, 13-26.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298860051_Peer_relations_and_friendship_in_childhood accessed from.

Berndt, T. J. (1989). Obtaining support from friends in childhood and adolescence. In D. Belle (Ed.), Children’s Social Networks and Social Supports (pp. 308-331). New York: Wiley.

Bukowski, W. M., Newcomb, A. F., & Hartup, W.W. (1996). Friendship and its significance in childhood and adolescence: Introduction and comment. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), The Company They Keep: Friendship in Childhood and Adolescence (pp. 1-15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Coie, J. D., & Dodge, K. A. (1983). Continuities and changes in children’s social status: A five year longitudinal study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29, 261-282. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23086262 accessed from.

Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18, 557-570. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.18.4.557

Coelho, L., Torres, N., Fernandes, C., & Santos, A. J. (2017). Quality of play, social acceptance and reciprocal friendship in preschool children, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 25(6), 812-823. http://dx.doi.org / 10.1080 / 1350293X.2017.1380879

Coplan, R. J., & K. A. Arbeau. (2009). Peer interactions and play in early childhood. In Handbook of Peer Interactions, Relations, and Groups. In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.) (pp. 143–161). New York: Guilford Press.-

Dietrich, S. L. (2005). A look at friendships between preschool-aged children with and without disabilities in two inclusive classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 3(2), 193-215. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1476718X05053933

Eggum-Wilkens, N. D., Fabes, R. A., Castle, S., Zhang, L., Hanish, L. D., & Martin, C. L. (2014). Playing with others: Head start children's peer play and relations with kindergarten school competence. Early Child Research Quarterly. Jul 1; 29(3), 345–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.04.008

Fabes, R. A., Hanish, L. D., Martin C. L., & Eisenberg, N. (2002). Young children's negative emotionality and social isolation: A latent growth model analysis. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 48, 284–307.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232539713_Young_Children's_Negative_Emotionality_and_Social_Isolation_A_Latent_Growth_Curve_Analysis accessed from.

Gifford-Smith, M. E., & Brownell, C. A. (2003). Childhood peer relationships: Social acceptance, friendships, and peer networks. Journal of School Psychology, 41, 235–284. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/S0022-4405(03)00048-7

Göktaş, İ. (2019). Supporting social and emotional skills through play.  In H. Gülay Ogelman (Ed), Play in early childhood education [in Turkish] (pp. 179-195). Ankara: Eğiten Publishing.

Göl-Güven, M. (2017). The effects of play-based experiences on classroom atmosphere, students’ behaviors, students’ school perceptions, and conflict resolution skills [in Turkish]. Bartın University Journal of Faculty of Education, 6(3), 1345-1366 Doi: 10.14686/buefad.336299

Göncü, A. (2019). Growing up in play: Child development and sociocultural perspective [in Turkish]. İstanbul: Koç University Publishing.

Green, V. A., Cillessen, A. H., Rechis, R., Patterson, M. M., & Hughes, J. M. (2008). Social problem solving and strategy use in young children. The Journal of Genetic Psychology. 169, 92–112.  Doi: 10.3200/GNTP.169.1.92-112

Gregoriadis, A., & Grammatikopoulos, V. (2014). Teacher-child relationship quality in early childhood education: The importance of relationship patterns, Early Child Development and Care, 184(3), 386-402.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03004430.2013.790383

Gülay, H. (2008). Standatizatıon of a scale for measuring peer relations among 5-6 years old children and studying the relations between some familial variables and peer relations of children at this age [in Turkish].  Unpublished doctoral dissertation. İstanbul: Marmara University.

Gülay, H. (2009). Peer relationships in preschool years [in Turkish]. Balıkesir University, Journal of Social Sciences Institute, 12(22), 82-93. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/857167 accessed from.

Gülay Ogelman, H. (2018). Peer relationships in preschool period [in Turkish]. Ankara: Eğiten Publishing.

Gülay Ogelman, H. (2019). Sociometry: Peer and teacher evaluation. Assessment and recognition of preschool children with examples [in Turkish]  in A. Önder (Ed.) (pp. 89-102). Ankara: Eğiten Publishing.

Hay, D. F., Caplan, M., & Nash, A. (2009). The beginnings of peer relations, In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, and B. Laursen (Eds.) Handbook of peer interactions, relationships and groups, (pp. 121-142), New York, NY: Guilford.

Howes, C., & Matheson, C. (1992). Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play. Developmental Psychology, 28, 961–974. Doi: 10.1037 / 0012-1649.28.5.961

Ladd G. W. (2005). Children's peer relations and social competence: A Century of progress. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT.

Martin-Anton, L. J., Monjas, M. I., García Bacete, F.J., & Jiménez-Lagares, I. (2016). Problematic social situations for peer-rejected students in the first year of elementary school. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 19-25. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01925

McCollum, J. A., & Ostrosky, M. M. (2008). Family roles in young children's emerging peer-related social competence. In W. H. Brown, S. L. Odom, & S. R. McConnell (Eds.) Social Competence of Young Children: Risk, Disability, and Intervention (pp. 31–59). Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Metin-Aslan, Ö. (2018). Peer rejection and internalizing behavior: The mediating role of peer victimization in preschool. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 179(4), 198-206. Doi: 10.1080 / 00221325.2018.1468993

Özdoğan, B. (2009). Child and play: Helping the child with play [in Turkish]. Ankara: Anı Publishing.

Persson, G. (2005). Young children’s prosocial and aggressive behaviors and their experiences of being targeted for similar behaviors by peers. Social Development, 14(2), 206–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2005.00299.x

Rojas, N., Yoshikawa, H., Morris, P., Kamboukos, D., Dawson-Mcclure, S., & Brotman, L. (2020). The association of peer behavioral regulation with motor-cognitive readiness skills in preschool. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 153-163. https://nyuscholars.nyu.edu/en/publications/the-association-of-peer-behavioral-regulation-with-motor-cognitiv accessed from.

Rubin, K. H., & Daniels-Beirness, T. (1983). Concurrent and predictive correlates of sociometric status in kindergarten and Grade 1 children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 29, 337–351. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1984-01110-001 accessed from.

Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2006). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner and N. Eisenberg (Eds.) Handbook of child psychology, (pp. 571–645). 6th ed., Hoboken: John Wiley& Sons.

Sakız, G., & Yetkin Özdemir, İ. E. (2014). Self-regulation and self-regulated learning: Theoretical perspective. In G Sakız (Ed.). Self-regulation: Development of self-regulation behaviors from learning to teaching, strategies and suggestions [in Turkish] (pp. 2-23). Ankara: Nobel Publishing.

Salı, G. (2014). An examination of peer relationships and exposure to peer violence among pre-school children in terms of different variables [in Turkish]. Çukurova University Faculty of Education Journal 43(2), 195-216. https://doi.org/10.14812/cufej.2014.020

Sanefuji, W. (2013). Similar physical appearance affects friendship selection in preschoolers. Psychology, 4, 6A2, 8-13. Doi: 10.4236 / psych.2013.46A2002

Şen, B., & Özbey, Ş. (2017). Investigation of the relationship between emotional intelligence levels and actual relations in pre-school children [in Turkish]. Education Sciences, 12(1), 40-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.12739/NWSA.2017.12.1.1C0668

Vidoni, C. (2007). Teaching social skills in middle school physical education. Journal of the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance, 33(2), 15-20. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282817570_Teaching_Social_Skills_in_Middle_School_Physical_Education accessed from.