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Predictors of pretend play in Korean-American and Anglo-American preschool children

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Predictors of pretend play in Korean-American and Anglo-American preschool children

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Content PREDICTORS OF PRETEND PLAY IN
KOREAN-AMERICAN AND ANGLO-AMERICAN
PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
by
Yonnie Kwak Kim
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTERS OF ARTS
(Psychology)
August 1995
Copyright 1995 Yonnie Kwak Kim
U NIV ERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A L IF O R N IA
T H E G R A D U A T E S C H O O L
U N IV E R S IT Y PA RK
L O S A N G E L E S . C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This thesis, ’written by
y s V; _
under the direction of h.... Thesis Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
CL .
Dtan
D ate.
* 5 — 2 - 3 —
'HESiS COMMITTEE^
Chairman
M.
Pretend Play
ii
Table of Contents
Page
LIST OF TABLES..................................... iv
ABSTRACT........................................... V
INTRODUCTION....................................... 1
CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON DEVELOPMENT................. 3
CORRELATES OF PRETEND PLAY .................... 8
A. Convergent Thinking....................... 9
B. Creativity (Ideational Fluency).......... 10
C. Social Competence......................... 16
D. Temperamment......... ,.................... 18
E. Parental Beliefs.......................... 2 0
HYPOTHESES......................................... 21
METHOD............................................. 25
A. Subjects................................... 25
B. The Preschool Setting..................... 2 5
C. Procedures and Measures................... 27
Observations of play behavior.......... 27
Interobserver Reliability............... 29
Measurement of Creative Potential
(Ideational Fluency).................... 30
Children's Cognitive Functioning....... 31
Social Competence..................... 32
Parent Questionnaire.................... 32
Teacher's Rating of Temperament........ 34
Acculturation........................... 34
RESULTS............................................ 35
A. Relationship of the Predictor Variables... 38
B. Relationship of Predictor Variables and
Complex Pretend Play...................... 40
C. Relationship of Predictor Variables and
Complex Pretend Play - Korean-American
Sample..................................... 41
D. Relationship of Predictor Variables and
Complex Pretend Play - Anglo-American
Sample..................................... 43
E. Individual Characteristics and Parental
Pretend Play
iii
Variables as Predictors of Complex Pretend
Play (Both Korean- and Anglo-American).... 45
F. Individual Characteristics and Parental
Variables as Predictors of Complex Pretend
Play - Korean-American................... 47
G. Individual Characteristics and Parental
Variables as Predictors of Complex Pretend
Play - Anglo-American.................... 48
DISCUSSION........................................ 49
REFERENCES 59
Pretend Play
iv
List of Tables
Table Page
1. Frequencies of the Predictor Variables
by Ethnicity............................. 36
2. Intercorrelations of the Predictor
Variables................................ 39
3. Correlations Between Individual
Characteristics, Parental Variables, and
Complex Pretend Play..................... 40
4. Correlations Bewteen Individual
Characteristics, Parental Variables, and
Complex Pretend Play For Korean-American
Children................................. 42
5. Correlations Bewteen Individual
Characteristics, Parental Variables, and
Complex Pretend Play For Anglo-American
Children................................. 43
6. Individual Characteristics and Parent
Variables As Predictors of Children's
Complex Pretend Play..................... 46
7. Predictors of Korean-American Children's
Complex Pretend Play..................... 47
8. Predictors of Anglo-American Children's
Complex Pretend Play..................... 48
Pretend Play
v
Abstract
3 0 Korean-American and 30 Anglo-American children were
observed in preschool settings and tested to examine the
role of culture in shaping pretend play and its correlates.
The frequency of preselected pretend play behaviors was
observed and recorded. Children were administered the
information, block design, and picture completion subtests
of the WPPSI-R and the instances and patterns subsets of the
MSFM. Teachers rated children's social competence and
temperament. Parents completed PAAT and an acculturation
questionnaire. The findings showed that cultural
differences existed in children's frequency of pretend play,
social competence, intelligence, and temperament and in
parental attitudes. The findings also showed that different
factors predicted pretend play for Korean- and Anglo-
Americans. The results suggest that assumed models of
pretend play may not be generalizable to Korean-American
children and that children's pretend play is influenced by
cultural practices and values.
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1
Introduction
The purposes of this study are twofold. First, this
study seeks to examine individual variables and parental
attitudes toward pretend play in Korean- and Anglo-American
preschool children to determine whether differences exist
between Korean- and Anglo-American children in these
variables. Second, after making such determinations, this
study seeks to determine which of these factors predict
pretend play in Korean- and Anglo-American children.
In looking at these issues, this study builds upon the
findings of an earlier study on Korean- and Anglo-American
preschool children conducted by Farver, Kim, and Lee (in
press). In this study, Farver et al. observed the play
behavior of Korean- and Anglo-American four-year old
children to understand how culture organizes children's
preschool environments which shaped their play activities
and social interactions. Results showed that Korean-
American children scored significantly higher in cognitive
functioning than Anglo-American children as measured by
PPVT-R, that Korean-American children engaged in
significantly less pretend play than Anglo-American
children, and that Anglo-American children were rated by
teachers as more social with peers and Korean-American
children as more hesitant with peers.
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2
In explaining these findings, Farver et al. suggested
that culture indirectly shapes developmental outcomes
through its influence on adults, who in turn shape the
environmental settings in which children's social
interactions and play behavior occur. Thus, differing
goals, values, and beliefs of Korean- and Anglo-Americans
caused adults to define social environments consistent with
these cultural values. As a result, the differences in
developmental outcomes found in the study were believed to
serve adaptive functions within Korean-American and Anglo-
American culture.
This study builds on this previous research by
examining various factors which have been linked to pretend
play in the research literature to examine whether these
factors differ in Korean- and Anglo-American children. In
doing so, this study refines the previous research by
utilizing better methods of measurement of these variables.
Moreover, this study goes one step further than Farver et
al.'s study by taking a multidimensional approach in
considering the influence of cognitive functioning,
creativity, social competence, temperament, and parental
attitudes toward pretend play to consider the relative
contributions of these factors in predicting pretend play
both intraculturally and interculturally.
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3
Cultural Influence on Development
In looking at factors related to pretend play, it is
important to note that previous studies examining these
relationships have, for the most part, used white, middle
class Western samples in reaching their conclusions (Farver,
1993). However, cross cultural research clearly
demonstrates that significant variations in children's
development among children of different cultures may be
attributed to differences in the social context in which
such development takes place (Roopnarine, 199 3). Such
cultural influence on pretend play has been explained by
Farver, et al. (in press) as the process by which cultural
beliefs and practices influence adults' attitudes toward
play and developmental goals for their children. In turn,
these attitudes and goals shape the environment in which
children's development takes place.
Thus, when comparing Korean-American and Anglo-American
children's pretend play, the predominant cultural values,
goals, and beliefs about children's social behavior and the
impact that these cultural factors have on adult-child
interaction, childrearing practices, and children's behavior
must be considered. With respect to American culture, among
its most significant attributes are its lack of rigid class
structures or hierarchy and its emphasis upon individualism
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4
and independence (Fallows, 1989). In keeping with these
values, Americans are encouraged to assert themselves as
individuals rather than as simply members of a group
(Sowell, 1981). Moreover, independent action is viewed in
American culture much more positively than in more group-
oriented societies, which tend to characterize such
independent behavior as self-centered or antisocial.
However, at the same time, American preschool educational
practices emphasize the teaching of social skills with peers
as well (Hendrick, 1994; Farver, et al., in press).
These values are reflected in American parents'
childrearing goals and in their children's play behavior.
American parents and children possess a relatively
egalitarian relationship with one another (Hoffman, 1988).
In addition, American parents value independence and self-
confidence in their children to a greater degree than
parents of many other cultures (Lawton, Fowell, Schuler, &
Madsen, 1984). Hence, parental emphasis on these values
encourages children to become more individualistic and
autonomous.
In looking at Korean-Americans, most Korean-Americans
remain heavily influenced by traditional Korean culture. In
part, this is due to the fact that a great majority are
recent immigrants who were born and raised in Korea (Chu,
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5
1978; Schoenberger, 1992). Moreover, adherence to Korean
cultural norms is also the result of the widespread belief
held by Korean-American parents that children should learn
about, retain, and uphold traditional Korean cultural values
(Kim, 1980). While assimilation into the American
mainstream is not discouraged, Korean-American parents also
expect children to maintain traditional Korean attitudes of
respect for elders and authority, devotion to the family,
and adherence to the work ethic (Kim, 1980b).
Korean culture possesses several characteristics
distinct from that of American culture. First, the concept
of equality so prized in American culture is not shared by
Korean culture. Instead, relationships are predetermined on
the basis of a hierarchy of status differences (Strom, Park,
& Daniels, 1985). In Korean families, authority is
vertically assigned on the basis of age, gender, and role.
The greatest authority is granted to the oldest family
members. Moreover, men occupy positions of greater
authority than women. Finally, certain roles within the
family confer greater authority. For example, fathers are
conferred greater authority than mothers and older siblings
have greater authority than younger ones.
This hierarchy is reflected in Korean parent-child
interactions. For example, Yu, Phillips, and Yang (1981)
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6
found that Korean parents were reluctant to play with their
children because such interaction would entail losing
respect by becoming involved in childish activities.
Moreover, Korean children are also expected to obey and show
respect to older members of the family and defer to their
authority (Hong, 1988).
A second distinguishing characteristic of Korean
culture is its relative deemphasis on individuality. In
Korean culture, notions of individual rights are suppressed
in favor of the interests of the family, kinship group, or
community (Kim, 1981). As a result, solitary or individual
activities and interests tend to be discouraged. In a study
of Korean-American childrearing practices, Strom, Park, and
Daniels (1985) found that Korean-American parents were
reluctant to support solitary play because they believed
that such individual activity was unnecessary for personal
development. In addition, self-assertiveness by children is
viewed as inappropriate behavior and is met with
disapproval. What is valued instead is a passive and
accepting stance toward authority figures. This passive
attitude not only applies within the family structure but is
also transferred to other settings, such as school (Kim,
1980; Chu, 1978).
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7
Finally, high academic achievement and an emphasis on
hard work is a common expectation of Korean parents. Korean
parents view educational achievement as a m^ans to social
and economic advancement and thus, tend to place great
weight on their children's achievement in this realm (McBee,
1984). Moreover, a child's performance in school is not
only believed to be important for the child, but also
thought to reflect upon the status of the child's family as
well. Thus, children's success at school carries with it
the added responsibility of bringing honor and respect, or
conversely, in the case of academic failure, shame and
disrepute, to the family in addition to oneself (U.S. Dept.
Of Health Report, 1980). Thus, not only are children geared
toward working hard in school, but often Korean parents
themselves become highly involved in their children's
schooling and actively monitor and assist in school-related
tasks (Kim, 1980a).
Although such emphasis has led to recognizable
scholastic achievement by Korean-American children, such
achievement may come at the expense of independent and
creative thinking (Kim, 1977). Rather than facilitate the
development of these forms thinking, Korean educational
practices tend to stress memorization skills, persistence,
and effort (Kim, 1977). Underlying this emphasis on
Pretend Play
8
persistence in routinized tasks over creative activity is
the presumption that sustained effort, rather than innate
talent or independent thinking, is the key to academic
success. Moreover, Korean educational practices also tend
to view academics, rather than social skills training, as
the primary goal to be attained (Cha, 1983; Hong, 1982; Kim,
1980a,b). Thus, Korean educational methods and goals
further reflect underlying cultural values of Korean
society.
Based on these cultural distinctions, this study
predicts that differences in cultural values, developmental
goals for children, and adult beliefs about children's
development among Korean- and Anglo-Americans will lead to
cultural differences in developmental outcomes.
Correlates of Pretend Play
Previous research have found positive links between
pretend play and a number of developmental virtues. For
example, relationships have been found between pretend play
and cognitive development (Christie, 1983; Smith, Dagleish,
& Herzmark, 1981; Golomb & Cornelius, 1977; Bruner, 1972),
creativity (Pepler, 1986; Feitelson & Ross, 1973), social
competence with peers (Connolly & Doyle, 1984; Shmukler &
Naveh, 1980; Burn & Brainerd, 1979) flexible temperament
(Becher & Wolfgang, 1977), and positive parental attitudes
Pretend Play
9
toward play (Farver, et al., in press). However, most of
these studies have taken a unilateral approach in examining
these factors. Rather than exploring relationships between
factors in contributing to pretend play, most studies have
looked at them independently from one another (Fein, 1981).
As a result, by taking a multidimensional approach, a
broader understanding of the interplay between pretend play
correlates as well as of the correlates themselves may be
achieved.
A. Convergent Thinking
Pretend play has been positively correlated with
convergent thinking (i.e., zeroing in on an answer that is
implied or specified by the information given -Wallach,
197 0) in studies linking pretend play to problem solving
with objects (Bruner, 1972; Smith, 1982; Cheyne & Rubin,
1983) and convergent problem solving (Sylva, 1977).
Moreover, studies where children were given training in
pretend play and then tested for increases in cognitive
functioning have shown that children to demonstrate improved
performance on conservation tests (Golomb & Cornelius,
1977), picture sequencing tests (Saltz & Johnson, 1974), IQ
tests (Saltz & Johnson, 1974; Saltz, Dixon, & Johnson,
1977), and language skills (Lovinger, 1974).
Pretend Play
10
However, this asserted link between pretend play and
cognitive functioning has been obscured due to the
questionable validity of many of these studies. First, it
has been widely noted that studies using the training model
contain design and methodological problems such as
experimenter effects (Cheyne, 1982; Smith & Simon, 1984) and
the absence or inappropriate use of control groups (Smith &
Simon, 1984; Rubin, et al., 1981). Second, many studies
have failed to separate cognitive ability (convergent
ability) from ideational fluency, a subprocess of divergent
ability indicative of creative potential. Thus, by failing
to make such a distinction, it is difficult to discern
whether it is cognitive functioning or creative potential,
or perhaps both, that correlates with pretend play. Third,
other researchers have simply contradicted these findings
and failed to find any positive correlation between pretend
play and IQ scores (Freyberg, 1973; Pulaski, 1973; Singer,
1973; Smilansky, 1968). As a result, it may well be that
convergent thinking has little or no relationship to pretend
play.
B. Creativity (Ideational Fluency)
Pretend play has also been linked to divergent thinking
(i.e., searching for material only loosely related to what
is already known so that one's search model is broader than
Pretend Play
11
in convergent thinking - Wallach, 197 0) in a series of
studies. This link between pretend play and divergent
thinking was first made by Sutton-Smith (1967) in a study of
boys and girls of kindergarten age and their functional and
descriptive answers to questions on sex-specific toys. The
study showed that boys generated more creative uses for
masculine toys while girls generated more creative uses for
feminine toys. Sutton-Smith suggested that children's play
with the toys accounted for the number of creative uses
given. Thus, since boys played more with the masculine toys
than girls, they were able to generate more creative uses
for the masculine toys than girls. Conversely, since girls
played more with feminine toys than boys, they were able to
generate more creative uses for the feminine toys than boys.
Thus, play was linked to divergent thinking as the result of
play's ability to facilitate the development of associations
with play objects.
However, Sutton-Smith's study was hindered by its
failure to control the subjects' time exposure to play
materials, confounding children's familiarity with objects
and play with objects. In addition, Sutton-Smith failed to
distinguish pretend play from other forms of play, such as
constructive play, in looking at this link. These
shortcomings were partially rectified by Dansky and
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12
Silverman (1973), who corrected Sutton-Smith's defects by
controlling for time. In their study, Dansky and Silverman
assigned subjects to three conditions: divergent play with
novel materials, imitation of the experimenter using the
materials, and observation of the experimenter's use of the
materials. Subjects were exposed to these conditions for
equal amounts of time. After such exposure, children were
then tested on their ability to form new associations for
elements of the objects exposed to during the conditions,
such as associating a rectangular block of wood to a house.
The results showed that the play condition enhanced the
number of unique responses given for these associative
fluency tests.
In a second study, Dansky and Silverman (1975) examined
whether the effect of divergent play could be generalized to
other materials. In this study, they again assigned
children to the three conditions mentioned above. However,
unlike the first study, children were tested for associative
fluency on objects to which they had not been previously
exposed to during the conditions. Like the first study, the
results showed that children who were exposed to the
divergent play condition generated more associations for the
previously unseen objects. Thus, Dansky and Silverman's
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13
second study found that divergent play enhanced associative
fluency with new materials as well as familiar ones.
Dansky (1980) refined these earlier findings by
focusing on pretend play as the important element in
contributing to creativity. In his 1980 study, Dansky
identified children who engaged in pretend play and their
non-pretend counterparts to determine whether children who
engaged in pretend play generated more creative and unique
uses for given objects when allowed to play. In Dansky's
study, children were observed during free-play and were
designated as “players” or “non-players” based on the amount
of time they engaged in make-believe activities. After
designating the subjects, equal numbers of players and non
players were assigned to the free-play, imitation, or
convergent problem solving condition. Results showed that
pretend players in the free-play condition produced more
non-standard uses for previously unseen objects than any
other group. As a result, Dansky concluded that children
who were assigned to play conditions that were arranged to
produce a high level of pretense demonstrated greater
divergent problem solving ability than children in other
play conditions which were arranged to produce no pretense.
Training in pretend play and its effect on creativity
was examined by Feitelson and Ross (1973). In their study,
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14
Feitelson and Ross trained one group of kindergarten
subjects in imaginative play with objects while another
group was allowed to engage in free play with the objects
without training. They found that children tutored in
pretend play became more imaginative in their play with
objects across training sessions while the free-play group's
play with the objects became more mechanical.
Finally, correlational studies by Johnson (197 6) and
Hutt and Bhavnani (1976) found relationships between pretend
play and creativity by showing divergent thinking to be
positively correlated with indexes reflecting pretend play.
In his study, Johnson (1976) compared intelligence and
divergent thinking estimates with observations of social
make-believe play. Johnson found that divergent thinking
scores showed the strongest correlation with social make-
believe play and suggested that ideational fluency - the
total output of ideas offered by a person for a given item,
such as naming all the uses for a towel, string, et cetera -
was the basis for this relationship.
However, one difficulty in examining the relationship
between pretend play and creativity has been the variety of
definitions of creativity that have been applied by
researchers. To eliminate this problem, this current study
utilizes a definition of creativity as original problem
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15
solving with ideational fluency as an essential component
(Guilford, 1956; Guilford, 1967; Mednick, 1962). According
to Guilford (1956), the number of ideas generated by a
subject corresponds to the likelihood that such ideas will
be original (i.e., statistically unusual and of high
quality). Thus, creativity is defined as relating to the
number of original responses given by subjects for the items
tested. This definition of creativity has been found to be
applicable to preschool children in a series of recent
studies (Milgram, Moran, Sawyers, & Fu, 1987; Moran,
Milgram, Sawyers, & Fu, 1983; Moran, Sawyers, Fu, & Milgram,
1984) .
Creativity has been conceptualized as distinct from
intelligence by Wallach (1970), who showed that ideational
fluency is independent from general intelligence. While
divergent thinking as a whole does not seem to be
significantly distinguishable from convergent thinking,
ideational fluency, a subprocess of the divergent thinking
domain, has been found to show such a distinction. Guilford
et al. (1957) found that the correlation between ideational
fluency and convergent thinking was .01. Thus, ideational
fluency may be paradigmatic in itself in relating to
creativity rather than included within the divergent
thinking domain (Wallach, 1970). As a result, by looking at
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16
ideational fluency apart from other divergent subprocesses,
a clearer distinction may be drawn between creativity and
convergent thinking in relation to pretend play.
C. Social Competence
With respect to pretend play and social competence,
research has found that children who engage in more pretend
play also tend to be more socially competent with peers. In
a longitudinal study of preschool children, Howes (1988)
found that cooperative social pretend play was positively
correlated with easy entry into peer groups and teacher1s
ratings of social competence with peers. Thus, Howes
concluded that cooperative social pretend play was related
to social competence with peers in the late toddler period.
This link has been explained by suggesting that pretend
play requires the use of socially mature behaviors which
facilitate the development of children's social skills
(Connolly, Doyle, & Reznick, 1988). Previous research has
found that peer popularity and teacher-rated social
competence (Connolly & Doyle, 1984; Marshall, 1961; Rubin &
Maioni, 1975) and mature cognitive and affective role-taking
skills (Burns & Brainerd, 1979; Fink, 1976; Saltz, Dixon, &
Johnson, 1977) were higher in children who engaged in more
pretend play than in children who engaged in less pretend
play. Moreover, children who played imaginatively were
Pretend Play
17
found to be less aggressive in their social interactions
{Singer, 1976), more people-oriented (Jennings, 1975), and
more cooperative with adults and peers (Singer, 1979) than
children who didn't play imaginatively.
Connolly et al. (1988) asserted that being in a
“pretend mode” requires the presence of features, such as
the nonliteral treatment of self or outside objects, which
facilitate social interactions. They found that children
who engaged in social pretend play exhibited more positive
affect and less negative affect, played for longer durations
of time, played in larger groups, showed greater
involvement, and displayed more reciprocity than children
who did not engage in pretend play. Thus, overall, they
found children's social pretend play to be associated with
positive changes in social behavior. These findings
complement Smilansky's (1968) earlier study linking pretend
play to the development of persistence and reciprocity in
children's behavior and Singer's (1973) and Smith and
Vollstedt's (1985) findings that pretend play enhances
flexibility of action, and suggests that as children move
from non-pretend social activities to social pretend play,
they demonstrate more developmentally mature social
interactions with peers.
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18
Training studies looking at the relationship between
pretend play and social competence lend further credence to
these findings. Studies examining children who took part in
adult-led pretend play training sessions have found that
children trained in pretend play displayed a greater
tendency to engage in group problem-solving tasks that
required group cooperative behavior than did children in
control groups (Rosen, 1974; Smith & Syddall, 1978). This
link was further highlighted by Smith, Dalgleish, and
Herzmark's (1981) study which found that training children
in group dramatic play led to increased positive peer
interaction and cooperation.
D. Temperament
In contrast to the sizable body of research on the
relationship of pretend play to creativity, cognitive
functioning, and social competence, relatively little
research has examined the possible relationship between
pretend play and children's temperamental characteristics.
Most research in this area fails to examine the relationship
between pretend play and temperamental categories of easy,
difficult, and slow to warm up per se. Instead, research
findings have shown particular aspects of these categories
to be associated with social pretend play. Generally, such
research suggests that children who engage in pretend play
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19
may have dispositions that are more flexible and adaptable
in a variety of social and nonsocial situations (Becher &
Wolfgang, 1977; Wing, Gould, Yeates, & Brierly, 1977) and
exhibit more persistence and pleasurable affect (Connolly &
Doyle, 1984; Marshall, 1961; Singer, 1973) than children who
engage in less pretend play.
One study which directly examined the relationship
between pretend play and temperament was Munn and Dunn's
(1989) study of siblings' pretend play interactions. In
this study, Munn and Dunn found that sibling pairs engaged
in joint pretend play less often when older siblings were
rated by parents as negative in mood, non-adaptable, and
non-distractible. They also found that high levels of joint
pretend play were found for sibling pairs in which the
siblings both exhibited the temperamental characteristic of
“distractibility” (defined as the ease with which the child
is distracted from ongoing activity) and the younger sibling
exhibited the characteristic of “threshold” (defined as the
extent to which the child is sensitive to noise, pain,
novelty, or social disapproval). As a result, Munn and Dunn
concluded that children who engaged in more joint pretend
play possessed temperaments which were more sensitive to
other people's actions and thus, more conducive to joint
pretend play.
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20
E. Parental Beliefs
Children who engage in more pretend play have also been
found to have parents who model pretend play behavior,
encourage pretend play, and have positive attitudes toward
pretend play (Feitelson & Ross, 197 3; Rogers & Sawyers,
1988; Singer, 1973; Garvey, 1990; Smilansky, 1968). For
example, Slade's (1987) longitudinal study of maternal
involvement in symbolic play during the toddler period found
that when mothers showed active engagement in their child's
play and commented about such play, children engaged in
higher levels of play across all age groups studied.
Similarly, Haight and Miller's (199 3) longitudinal study of
toddlers' pretend play found that mothers not only modeled
play behavior for their children, but also conveyed to them
the idea that pretend play is an acceptable and desirable
social activity.
However, while such direct parental modeling and
encouragement may be positive factors in the development of
pretend play, such direct involvement may only reflect
parent-child interactions in Western culture. In
particular, such direct play interaction between parent and
child may not be found in other cultures, or may only
reflect a minority (Gershowitz, cited in Sherrod & Singer,
1977). For instance, Farver's (1993) study of mother-child
Pretend Play
21
interaction in rural Mexico found that mothers rarely
engaged in play with their children and that siblings
constituted the predominant play dyad. Thus, a more
generally applicable explanation of the relationship between
pretend play and childrearing factors may be that
childrearing factors indirectly influence pretend play by
influencing other systems such as time and space to play
(Curry & Arnaud, 1984), access to play materials (Gottfried
& Brown, 1986), adult behavior and attitudes toward pretense
(Curry & Arnaud, 1984), and the availability of play
partners (Garvey, 1990). In turn, these factors more
directly facilitate pretend play in children (Fein, 1981).
Hypotheses
Based on the literature review above, this study sets
forth two sets of hypotheses: one set based on the
distinctions found in Korean- and Anglo-American culture;
and the other set based on the previous research conducted
on the correlates of pretend play.
With respect to cultural influence on pretend play and
developmental outcomes resulting from such influence, this
study hypothesizes the following:
First, to extend Farver et al.'s earlier study on
Korean- and Anglo-Americans, this study, like Farver's
study, hypothesizes that there will be differences in the
Pretend Play
22
frequency of children's pretend play due to cultural
influences on parental attitudes. More specifically,
because Korean-American teachers and parents emphasize
memorization, task-persistence, and hard work over play
activities to achieve academic success, Korean-American
children are expected to engage in less frequent pretend
play than Anglo-American children, whose teachers and
parents have more positive attitudes toward play in
fostering development.
Second, this study hypothesizes that Anglo-American
children will be rated by their teachers as more sociable
with peers and more personally and socially adaptable than
Korean-American children as a result of the emphasis placed
on the development of social skills in the American
preschool.
Third, this study hypothesizes that Korean-American
children will be more task-oriented and less reactive (i.e.,
less tendency to overreact to stressful situations and
become overly upset when frustrated) than Anglo-American
children as rated by their teachers as a result of Korean
culture's emphasis on hard work, persistence, and self
control.
Fourth, this study hypothesizes that Korean-American
children will have higher cognitive functioning (as measured
Pretend Play
23
by WPPSI-R rather than PPVT-R) than Anglo-American children
due to Korean-American parents' emphasis on academic
achievement.
Fifth, this study hypothesizes that there will be
cultural differences in scores in a creativity task. Anglo-
American children, whose culture emphasizes individuality,
independent thinking, and imaginative problem solving, are
expected to score higher on the creativity task than the
Korean-American children, whose culture emphasizes social
conformity and whose educational practices emphasize
routinized tasks over original or creative problem solving.
Sixth, this study hypothesizes that Korean-American
parents will have less positive attitudes toward play as a
medium for development, be less accepting of their
children's expression of creativity, and less likely to
believe in their own ability to foster academic readiness at
home than Anglo-American parents. Korean-American parents
are expected to have less positive toward play in
development than Anglo-American parents because of Korean
culture's view of play as amusement rather than learning and
Anglo-American culture's view of play as work for children.
Korean-American parents are expected to be less accepting of
their children's expression of creativity because of
cultural emphasis on self-control and obedience rather than
Pretend Play
24
self-expression. Finally, Korean-American parents are
expected to be less likely to believe in their own ability
to foster academic readiness at home than Anglo-American
parents because of the hierarchical nature of Korean culture
and Korean parent's respectful attitude toward teachers. In
contrast, the independent spirit of American parents would
seem to allow them to ignore status differences and feel
confident in their own ability to teach their children.
With respect to correlates of pretend play, this study
hypothesizes the following:
First, consistent with previous research findings, this
study hypothesizes that there will be a relationship between
pretend play and creativity, social competence, a socially
flexible temperament, and parental attitudes toward play and
creativity for both Korean- and Anglo-American samples.
Moreover, because of the questionable nature of research
findings regarding pretend play and convergent thinking,
this study hypothesizes that no relationship will be found
for pretend play and cognitive functioning.
Second, this study directly tests how the above-
mentioned factors hypothesized to be related to pretend play
- creative potential, social competence, socially flexible
temperament, and parents' positive attitudes about play and
creativity - could account for the hypothesized differences
Pretend Play
25
in pretend play between Korean- and Anglo-American cultures.
Given that pretend play was found by Farver, et al. (in
press) to differ by culture, this study seeks to determine
which factors may explain these differences.
Method
A. Subjects
The subjects were 60 (3 0 Anglo- and 3 0 Korean-
American) preschool children, (half girls), ranging in age
from 42 to 68 months (Anglo-Americans, M=52.13 SD=5.18;
Korean-Americans, M=58.53 SD=3.46). All children had
attended year-round, full-day preschool programs for at
least four months prior to the beginning of the study. The
Anglo-American children were recruited from one preschool in
a West Coast suburb. All were from white, middle-class
families. The Korean-American children were recruited from
an all-Korean preschool in the Koreatown section of a large
West Coast city. All were from middle-class Korean
immigrant families.
B. The Preschool Setting
The Anglo-American preschool was a year-round, full-day
(8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) program with an adult-child ratio of
1:7 and group sizes of 12-16. Teachers were of mixed
ethnicity from middle-class backgrounds with degrees in
Early Childhood Education. The director, teachers, and
Pretend Play
26
parent board members in the programs used the NAEYC
Developmentally Appropriate Practice guidelines in
developing their curriculums. Three 45 minute outdoor free
play periods were integrated into daily schedules. There
were slides, a treehouse, monkey bars, swings, sandboxes,
bicycles, wagons, and sand toys located outdoors. Indoors,
children engaged in group-time activities and self-selected
learning center periods where art materials, toys,
manipulatives, and books were available.
The Korean-American preschool had three full-day (8:00
a.m. -6:00 p.m.) classrooms with an adult-child ratio of
1:14 and an average group size of 16. The director and
teachers were all middle-class, Korean-born Korean-
Americans. The teachers had varying degrees of educational
background. The curriculum was designed by the teachers and
director. The goals of the program were to teach academic
skills for public school, to provide English and Korean
language instruction, and Christian religious instruction.
Children were assigned approximately four pages of homework
every night, including weekends, and were rewarded for
turning in their assignments promptly. Parent's were also
made to feel responsible for ensuring that their children's
homework was completed through a procedure whereby parents
Pretend Play
27
were required to check off assignments after completion by
their child.
Three 30-minute outdoor free play periods were
integrated into the daily schedule. There were bikes, a
climbing structure, swings, slides and a sandbox located
outdoors. The daily schedules also included group circle
time in which children recited letters, rhymes, dates, and
numbers by rote. In addition, there were two one-hour
periods of teacher-directed academic activities. These
academic activities included phonics and mathematics
workbook exercises, and children were expected to remain
quiet during these period unless called upon by the teacher.
Art activities were infrequent and were structured by the
teachers. There were few toys in the classrooms.
C. Procedures end Measures
Observations of play behavior
To ensure that the observations were representative of
children's play behaviors, children in both groups were
observed individually in random order on six different
occasions during indoor and outdoor freeplay activities in
their preschools over a four-month period using a checklist
and procedure adopted from Howes (1988).
Observers recorded the presence or absence of
preselected behaviors every 60 seconds for five minutes.
Pretend Play
28
Observations began when a child started to interact with a
peer or teacher and continued for five minutes whether or
not the interaction was maintained. Interaction was defined
as social behaviors directed to or from the target child
from or to a peer partner or teacher.
Observed behaviors included play initiations and
responses, complexity of social and pretend play, and
predominant affect. Initiations were attempts to engage
peers in social interaction. These include: verbal
invitation to play, offer an ob~iectf or engage in parallel
activity. Cooperative responses to peer initiations
included verbally accepting an invitation to play, receiving
an object, or beginning to play with the partner who
initiated the interaction. Negative responses included
ignoring or verbally rejecting play initiations, leaving or
turning away. Aggressive responses included reactions of
physical aggression, (i.e., hitting or pushing the
initiator).
The target child's highest level of play during each 60
second interval was noted using a scale developed by Howes
(1988). Unoccupied was coded when the child was not engaged
in any activity. Solitary plav was coded when the child was
playing alone. Parallel plav was coded when the child and
partner engaged in the same or similar activity but did not
Pretend Play
29
make eye contact or engage in social interaction. Simple
social plav was coded when the child and partner engaged in
the same or similar activity and directed social bids to
each other (i.e., smiled, offered or received an object).
Solitary pretend plav was coded when the child, alone
engaged in fantasy play (i.e., children acted or used
objects in an “as if” manner). Parallel pretend play was
coded when the child and the partner engaged in fantasy play
but did not show mutual awareness. Complex pretend plav was
coded when the child and partner engaged in fantasy play
(i.e., engaged in scripted pretend play, or enacted
complementary pretend roles such as mother and baby).
Interobserver Reliability
The Korean-American as well as the Anglo-American
children were observed by a bilingual author and
undergraduate research assistants. Prior to the data
collection in both settings, the author trained
undergraduate research assistants to observe play behaviors
of the subjects to a criterion of 90% agreement.
To establish reliability for the Anglo-American sample,
the author and the undergraduate assistants simultaneously
recorded ten five-minute observations. Observations were
compared and scored. This procedure was repeated four times
during the data collection period to minimize interobserver
Pretend Play
30
drift. To establish reliability for the Korean-American
observations, the same procedure as described above for the
Anglo-American sample was used. Cohen's Kappas
interobserver reliabilities on the individual variables
ranged from .78 to .95 (median=.89) for the Korean-American
sample and from .77 to .92 (median=.88) for the Anglo-
American sample.
Measurement of Creative Potential (Ideational Fluency^
Three subtests of the multidimensional Stimulus Fluency
Measure (Moran, Milgrim, Sawyers, & Fu, 1983) - patterns,
instances, and uses - were individually administered to each
child to provide an estimate of the child's creative
potential, or ideational fluency. Ideational fluency was
defined as a divergent thinking subprocess which refers to
the number of responses or total output of ideas offered by
a person for a given item (Marcos & Moran, 1989). For the
Korean-American sample, the MSFM was administered in Korean.
In the patterns task, children were asked to provide
possible interpretations of two, three-dimensional shapes.
These shapes consisted of Styrofoam patterns painted in
different colors. In the instances task, children were
asked to identify “anything that is round” and “anything
that is red”. In the uses task, children were asked to name
all uses they could think of for a box and paper.
Pretend Play
31
Test responses were scored by Moran and colleagues
(test authors) as popular or original. Responses were
scored as popular if given by more than 5% of the group.
.Responses were scored as original if given by less than 5%
of the group. Responses which were repeat responses
(virtually identical responses by the same child) or clearly
bizarre were discarded. The summed original scores for the
6 subtests were used as indicator of creativity (ideational
fluency). These raw scores were used in the data analyses.
Children's Cognitive Functioning
The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence Revised (Weschler, 1967) was individually
administered to provide an estimate of children's cognitive
functioning by measuring their perceptual-motor responses
and their verbal responses. The scaled scores for each
child were derived from the information, block design, and
picture completion subtests of the WPPSI-R. The subtests
were scored by the author using directions in the WPPSI-R
Manual. For the Korean-American subjects, all subtests were
administered in Korean. A high validity coefficient was
reported for this short form (Silverstein, 1970). The
reliability coefficient for children between four and five
for the information subtest ranged from .88-.90. The
picture completion and block design subtest dyad's
Pretend Play
32
correlation to the performance scale IQ was found to be .84.
The scaled raw scores were used in the data analyses.
Social Competence
Teachers completed a Likert rating scale for 16
dimensions of each child's social functioning with peers.
Three composite scores were computed from these items to
represent social competence with peers (see Howes, 1988, for
this analysis). Scores of difficult were given if the child
was easily upset and reacted with anger when interrupted by
peers; bossed around or dominated peers; hit, pushed, or
hurt other children; or was unable to share or take turns.
Scores of hesitant were given when the child withdrew from
peer activity, watched rather than participated in peer
activity, and was characteristically shy with peers. Scores
of sociable were given when the child was liked by peers and
initiated activities with peers.
Parent Questionnaire
To measure parents' child-rearing practices and their
relationship to children's play behavior, creativity and
cognitive ability, parents were given the Parents as a
Teacher Inventory (PAAT) (Strom et al., 1983). The PAAT
consists of 50 Likert-like items which ask about parental
expectations, childrearing expectations, how parents
perceive themselves as teachers, and differences in parental
Pretend Play
33
attitudes toward specific parenting and child behaviors
according to ethnic group and class status. Parents circled
one answer per item: “strong yes”, “yes”, “no”, and “strong
no”. These items were clustered together into five subsets
using guidelines by Strom et al. (Creativity, Frustration,
Control, Play, and Teaching-Learning).
The Creativity subset reflects parental attitudes about
child fantasy and imaginative functioning. The Frustration
subset examines the frustration associated with parents'
feelings about the inconsistency between the child's
developmental needs and their own expectations. The Control
subset measures the feelings outlining the scope of child
control that parents require. The Play subset assesses
parents understanding of play as an influence in
development. Finally, the Teaching-Learning subset examines
parent self-perception of their own ability to facilitate
academic readiness at home.
Five composite scores were computed by the author from
the 50 items to represent the five subsets as described
above. Numerical values of 4, 3, 2, or 1 were assigned to
each of the 50 items. The most desired responses, in
accordance with child development research, were given a
value of four, with diminishing values assigned to other
responses based on their distance from the most-desirable
Pretend Play
34
category (Strom, et al., 1983). For example, when asked if
they liked their children to make up stories, an answer of
“strong yes” would be given a numerical value of four in the
creativity subset. Conversely, when asked if pretending
seemed foolish when their children played with toys, an
answer of “strong yes” would be given a numerical value of
one.
Teachers Rating of Temperament
Teachers were given Keogh, Pullis, and Cadwell's (1982)
23-item, Likert rating scale for eight dimensions of each
child's temperament within an educational setting. Teachers
were asked to rate each item on a six-point scale from
“hardly ever” to “almost never”. Three composite scores
were computed using the guidelines provided by the measure
to represent the child's temperament. Task orientation:
included dimensions of Activity, Distractibility, and
Persistence. Personal social adaptability: included
dimensions of Adaptability, Approach-Withdrawal, Positive
Mood. Reactivity; included dimensions of Threshold and
Intensity.
Acculturation
Korean-American parents completed an acculturation
questionnaire adopted from Cuellar, Harris, and Jasso
(1980). This scale was translated into Korean and
Pretend Play
35
consisted of questions about family demography, language
preference, and ethnic, social, and cultural identification.
This scale differentiates five distinct types of Korean-
Americans from “very Korean” (1) to “very Anglicized” (5).
Acculturation ratings were computed for each family using
the guidelines provided with the measure.
Results
To examine the hypotheses on individual variables
(social competence, teacher ratings of temperament,
cognitive functioning, creative potential, and play
complexities) and parent variables, each of these variables
were compared by culture.
Complex pretend play was compared by culture using a
MANOVA. Anglo-American children engaged in a higher
proportion of complex pretend play F(l,57)=4.03, p<.05 than
Korean-American children.
The three teacher ratings of children's social
competence (difficult, hesitant, and sociable) were compared
by culture using a MANOVA. Korean-American'children were
rated as more difficult with peers F(l,56)=5.08 £<.028 than
were Anglo-American children. No significant cultural
differences were found for the teacher ratings of sociable
or hesitant.
Pretend Play
36
Table 1
Frequencies o f the Predictor Variables by Ethnicity
Korean-American______________ Anglo-American
Predictor Variables M SD M SD F P
Complex Pretend Play
*
.21 (.14) .29 (.17) 4.03 .05
Sociable w/ Peers 7.00 (1.46) 6.90 (1.95) .0265 n/s
Difficult w/ Peers
*
22.57 (6.06) 18.36 (7.21) 5.08 .028
Hesitant w/ Peers 14.00 (4.37) 13.00 (5.17) .468 n/s
Parent’s attitude about
±
26.07 (1.68) 27.33 (2.58) 4.25 .04
(Creativity)
Parent’s attitude about 30.50 (2.97) 31.77 (3.50) 1.86 n/s
(Play)
Parent’s attitude about
*
26.06 (2.42) 30.33 (2.45) 45.56 .000
(Teaching)
Temperament 3.98 (.67) 4.12 (.77) .4087 n/s
(Task orientation)
Temperament 3.78 (.59)
*
(Personal social adaptability)
4.34 (.89) 7.05 .010
Temperament 3.52 (.63) 3.41 (.65) .34 n/s
(Reactivity)
Creativity 14.03 (7.63)
(Instance Original +Patterns Original)
12.96 (7.54) .13 n/s
Performance IQ
*
73.97 (6.05) 69.77 (9.13) 8.70 .005
Verbal IQ
*
45.50 (9.86) 64.53 (11.61) 45.37 .000
Full IQ
*
119.43 (12.36) 139.73 (27.12) 12.87 .001
Pretend Play
37
Five dimensions of the PAAT were compared by culture
using a MANOVA. Anglo-American parents scored higher on
parents' attitudes about creativity F(l,56)=4.25, £<.04 and
parents' attitudes about teaching £(1,56)=45.56, p<.000 than
Korean-American parents. No significant difference between
Korean-Americans and Anglo-Americans were found for parents'
attitudes toward play.
Three factors of the teacher ratings of temperament
(Personal Social Adaptability, Reactivity, and Task
Orientation) were compared for culture using a MANOVA.
Anglo-American children were rated significantly higher than
Korean-American children in Personal Social Adaptability
F(1,56)=7.05, p<.010. No significant differences between
the Korean-American children and Anglo-American children
were found for Reactivity and Task Orientation.
To test the hypothesis that the Korean-American
children would be less creative than the Anglo-Americans,
the instance original and patterns original scores were
summed and compared by culture using a MANOVA. No
significant differences were found.
To test for the hypothesis that Korean-American
children would score higher on the verbal IQ, performance
IQ, and full IQ than Anglo-American children, scaled raw
scores were compared by culture using MANOVA. Significant
Pretend Play
38
differences were found for all three factors. Anglo-
American children scored significantly higher on the verbal
IQ F(l,56)=45.37, £<.000 and full IQ F(1,56)=12.87, £<.001
than Korean-American children. Korean-American children
scored significantly higher on the performance IQ
F (1,56)=7.82, £<.007'than Anglo-American children.
A. Relationships of the Predictor Variables
To examine the relationship of the variables, partial
correlations among the predictor variables adjusted for age
were computed. Overall, the predictor variables were not
highly correlated.
Task orientation was positively correlated with sex r =
.43, p < .001. Hesitant socially was negatively correlated
with sociable r = -.43, £ < .001. Personal social
adaptability was positively correlated with sociable r =
.47, £ <.001. Parents1 attitudes toward play was negatively
correlated with difficult socially r = -.32 £ <.01.
Personal social adaptability and verbal IQ were negatively
correlated with hesitant socially r = -.55 £ <.001, r=-.39,
£ < .01. Reactivity was positively correlated with hesitant
socially r=.32, £ <.01. Verbal IQ was positively correlated
with parents1 attitudes toward teaching r=.38, £<.01 and
personal social adaptability r= .31, £<.01. other
Table 2
Intercorrelations o f the Predictor Variables (N=60)
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3
1 . S e x
__
2 . S o c i a b l e . 0 9 8 8 —
3 . D i f f i c u l t S o c i a l l y - . 1 7 7 8 . 0 7 2 5 --
4 . H e s i t a n t S o c i a l l y . 0 9 8 7 - . 4 3 1 2 * * - . 1 2 4 5 --
5 . P a r e n t s ’ A t t i t u d e - - . 1 5 4 5 - . 0 5 3 0 - . 0 7 3 2 . 0 0 4 0
--
( C r e a t i v i t y )
6 . P a r e n t s ’ A t t i t u d e - ( P l a y ) - . 0 8 2 6 . 1 1 2 3 - . 3 2 1 1 - . 1 2 0 7 . 4 2 5 5 * * --
7 . P a r e n t s ’ A t t i t u d e - . 4 2 9 3 * * . 1 1 4 4 - . 1 8 0 7 - . 2 1 1 9 . 2 0 5 3 . 4 7 8 2 * *
__
( T e a c h i n g )
8 . T e m p e r a m e n t - . 1 4 6 9 . 1 9 9 9 - . 1 4 3 5 . 0 9 0 2 - . 1 7 5 8 - . 2 2 2 6 - . 1 3 5 0
--
( T a s k O r i e n t a t i o n )
9 . T e m p c r a m e t n - . 2 5 0 2 . 4 6 5 3 * * . 2 8 8 2 - . 5 5 2 8 * * - . 0 9 6 6 . 0 6 0 2 . 2 6 0 5 - . 0 2 1 1 —
( P e r s o n a l S o c i a l
A d a p t a b i l i t y )
1 0 . T e m p e r a m e n t - . 0 2 6 4 - . 1 7 3 6 - . 0 9 7 5 . 3 1 6 8 * . 0 5 2 3 - . 0 7 3 7 - . 2 8 4 7 . 0 6 4 9 - . 2 5 1 4
__
( R e a c t i v i t y )
1 1 . P e r f o r m a n c e I Q - . 1 3 8 2 - . 1 0 9 1 . 0 9 9 6 . 0 2 6 4 - . 2 9 7 8 - . 1 3 6 6 - . 2 9 0 5 . 0 3 3 8 - . 0 4 9 1 . 1 5 9 6
--
1 2 . V e r b a l I Q - . 1 6 4 5 . 2 9 7 1 . 0 1 3 7 - . 3 8 6 0 * . 1 6 4 3 . 1 4 9 3 . 3 7 8 0 * . 0 7 1 7 . 3 1 3 5 - . 0 3 6 0 . 0 6 0 3 --
1 3 . F u l l I Q - . 0 0 2 8 - . 1 4 7 7 - . 0 6 2 6 . 0 4 8 8 - . 0 6 3 5 . 0 2 2 3 . 1 2 8 3 - . 0 3 1 1 - . 1 0 2 2 . 1 1 6 1 . 5 1 1 1 * * . 5 3 9 2 * * --
1 4 . C r e a t i v i t y . 1 0 2 4 . 2 8 0 5 - . 1 5 7 3 - . 0 8 1 7 - . 0 2 2 6 . 2 0 7 6 . 0 4 4 2 . 2 8 0 3 - . 1 8 7 2 . 1 5 3 0 . 2 6 9 8 . 1 8 2 6
( I n s t a n c e o r i g i n a l
^ - P a t t e r n s o r i g i n a l )
Note: values are partial correlations adjusted for age
Variables #’s 2,3,4,10,11,12 are as rated by teachers
* jj < .01
** j> < .001
Pretend Play
40
significant correlations are not listed since these
correlations consisted of subsets of the same measures.
B. Relationship of Predictor Variables and Complex Pretend
Play
Correlations were computed to examine the relationship
between teacher ratings of social competence with peers,
teacher ratings of temperament, cognitive functioning,
creative potential, and parents’ attitudes to complex
pretend play.
Table 3
Correlations Between Individual Characteristics.
Parental Variables, and Complex Pretend Plav
Complementary Pretend Play
Sex
Sociable
Difficult Socially
Hesitant Socially
Parents’ Attitude - (Creativity)
Parents’ Attitude - (Play)
Parents’ Attitude - (Teaching)
Temperament - (Task Orientation)
Temperament - (Personal Social Adaptability)
Temperament - (Reactivity)
Performance IQ
Verbal IQ
Full IQ
Creativity
(Instance Original + Patterns Original)
-.2505
.1559
.3934*
.2730
.3811*
.1075
.3543
.1999
-.3515*
-.0789
.0115
.3873*
.0011
.4562***
Note: values are partial correlations adjusted for age
Variables #’s 2,3,4 ,10,11,12 are as rated by teachers
* _B<01
Pretend Play
41
The total proportion of complex pretend play was negatively
correlated with teacher ratings of hesitant socially with
peers r =-.3515, pc.Ol. The total proportion of complex
pretend play was positively correlated with personal social
adaptability r=.4562, pc.001. The verbal IQ was positively
correlated with complex pretend play r=.3934, pc.Ol. Summed
instance original and patterns original scores were
positively correlated with complex pretend play r=.3811,
pc.Ol. Parents' attitudes about their own ability to
facilitate academic readiness at home was positively
correlated with complex pretend play r=.4562, pc.001.
C. Relationship of Predictor Variables and Complex Pretend
Play - Korean-American Sample
In examining the correlations between the individual
variables and parent variables and pretend play for the
Korean-American sample, several significant correlations
were found.
Positive correlations were found for difficult socially
r=.4412, pc.Ol, parents attitude toward teaching r=.4943,
pc.Ol, and personal social adaptability r=.4919, pc.Ol, and
complex pretend play.
Pretend Play
42
Table 4
Correlations Between Individual Characteristics.
Parental Variables and Complex Pretend Plav
For Korean-American Children
Complex Pretend Play
Sex -.0662
Sociable .3413
Difficult Socially .4412*
Hesitant Socially -.2668
Parents’ Attitude - (Creativity) .0291
Parents’ Attitude - (Play) -.1792
Parents’ Attitude - (Teaching) .4943*
Temperament - (Task Orientation) -.1889
Temperament - (Personal Social Adaptability) .4919*
Temperament - (Reactivity) -.3503
Performance IQ .1745
Verbal IQ .1504
Full IQ .2129
Creativity .3046
(Instance Original + Patterns Original)
Note: values are partial correlations adjusted for age
Variables #’s 2,3,4 ,10,11,12 areas rated by teachers
* _E<.01
** £<.001
Pretend Play
43
D. Relationship of Predictor Variables and Complex Pretend
Play - Anglo-American Sample
In examining the correlations between the individual
variables and parent variables and complex pretend play for
the Anglo-American sample, significant correlations were
also found.
Table 5
Correlations Between Individual Characteristics,
Parental Variables, and Children’ s Play Behavior
For Anelo-American Children
Complex
Pretend Play
Sex .2592
Sociable .3445
Difficult Socially .1497
Hesitant Socially -.3778
Parents’ Attitude - (Creativity) -.1728
Parents’ Attitude - (Play) .0879
Parents’ Attitude - (Teaching) .2217
Temperament- (Task Orientation) .1070
Temperament-(Personal Social Adaptability) .4047
Temperament- (Reactivity) -.1516
Performance IQ .2581
Verbal IQ .5116*
Full IQ .2707
Creativity-
(Instance Original + Patterns Original)
.2295*
Note: values are partial correlations adjusted for age
Variables # ’s 2,3,4 ,10,11,12 are as rated by teachers
* _E<-01
** £<.001
Pretend Play
44
Positive correlations were found for verbal IQ r=.5116,
£<.01, the summed score of instance original and patterns
original r=.2295, p<.01, and complex pretend play.
To summarize the findings on cultural influence on
pretend play and developmental outcomes, the results show
that Anglo-American children engage in more complex pretend
play, are more personally socially adaptable, and performed
better on the verbal subset and the full scale IQ of the
WPPSI-R than Korean-American children. In addition, Anglo-
American parents had more positive attitudes toward
creativity and more readily believed that they could
facilitate academic readiness at home than Korean-American
parents. Korean-American children were rated by their
teachers as more socially difficult with their peers than
and performed better on the performance subset of the WPPSI-
R than Anglo-American children. However, no significant
differences in creativity were found between Korean- and
Anglo-American children.
Finally, to summarize the correlational findings, with
respect to the sample as a whole (both Korean- and Anglo-
American) , the study found significant positive correlations
between complex pretend play and personal social
adaptability (temperament), verbal IQ, and creativity and
significant negative correlations between complex pretend
Pretend Play
45
play and hesitant socially (teacher ratings of social
competence). With respect to the Korean-American sample
alone, the study found significant positive correlations
between complex pretend play and difficult socially (teacher
ratings of social competence), personal social adaptability
(temperament), and parents' attitudes about teaching. With
respect to the Anglo-American sample alone, the study found
significant positive correlations between complex pretend
play and verbal IQ and creativity.
E. Individual Characteristics and Parental Variables as
Predictors of Complex Pretend Play (Both Korean- and Anglo-
American)
To examine the relative contributions of individual and
parental factors to complex pretend play for both cultures,
a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. The
variables that were significantly correlated with complex
pretend play were used in the regression model: the teacher
rating of “sociable” with peers, parents' beliefs about
their ability to achieve academic readiness at home,
children's personal social adaptability as rated by
teachers, verbal IQ, and the summed original scores of the
two creativity subsets, instance and patterns. Analyses
were conducted for complex pretend play as the dependent
variable and teacher ratings of children's personal social
Pretend Play
46
adaptability, parents' beliefs about their ability to
achieve academic readiness at home, teacher ratings of
children's sociability, instance original + patterns
original, and verbal IQ as independent variables (entered in
that order).
Table 6
Individual Characteristics and Parent Variables
As Predictors o f Children's Complex Pretend Play
N— 57 (Whale Sample)
2 F Sig DF Beta 2
2
R A FA
R A djR
1. Personal Social Adaptability .20 14.26
***
1,56 .45 .19
------ „ *
2. Parents’ Attitude about- Teaching .27 10.10
**#
2,55 .27 .24 .06 4.94 *
3. Sociability .32 8.41
***
3,54 .23 .28 .05 3.94 *
(Teacher Rating o f Social Competence)
4. Creativity .38 7.96
***
4,53 .24 .32 .06 4.81 *
(Instance Original + Patterns Original)
5. Verbal IQ .42 7.65
***
5,52 .24 .37 .05 4.38 *
As shown in Table 6, teacher ratings of personal social
adaptability, parents' beliefs about their ability to
achieve academic readiness at home, teacher ratings of
sociability, instance original + patterns original, and
verbal IQ significantly predicted complex pretend play.
Pretend Play
4 7
F. Individual Characteristics and Parental Variables as
Predictors of Complex Pretend Play - Korean-American
To examine the relative contributions of the individual
and parental variables to complex pretend play for the
Korean-American sample, a hierarchical regression analysis
was conducted. The variables that were significantly
correlated with complex pretend play for Korean-Americans
were used in the regression model: Difficult socially and
parents' beliefs about their own ability to achieve academic
readiness at home. Analyses were conducted for complex
pretend play as the dependent variable and difficult
socially and parents' beliefs about their own ability to
achieve academic readiness at home as independent variables
(entered in that order).
Table 7
Predictors of Korean-American Children’ s Complex Pretend Play
2 2 2
F Sig DF Beta Adj R R A FA R
1. Difficult .20 7.18 ** 1,28 .45 .18 .20
(Teacher Rating Social Competence)
2. Parents’ attitude about teaching .30 5.73 ** 2,27 .34 .25 .09 .3.61
Pretend Play
48
As shown in Table 7, parents' beliefs about their own
ability to achieve academic readiness at home significantly
predicted complex pretend play for the Korean-American
sample.
G. Individual Characteristics and Parental Variables as
Predictors of Complex Pretend Play - Anglo-American
To examine the relative contributions of individual and
parental variables to complex pretend play for the Anglo-
American sample, a hierarchical regression analysis was
conducted. Only the variables that were significantly
correlated with complex pretend play for Anglo-Americans,
creativity and verbal IQ, were used in the regression model.
Analyses were conducted for complex pretend play as the
dependent variable and creativity and verbal IQ as
independent variables (entered in that order).
Table 8
Predictors ofAnelo-American Children’ s Complex Pretend Play
2 2 2
R F Sig DF Beta A djR R A FA
1. Verbal IQ .1754 5.74
**
1,27 .4188 .14486 .1754
__ *
2. Creativity .3473 6.917
• •
2,26 .4151 .2971 .1719 6.84 *
(Instance Original + Patterns
Original)
Pretend Play
49
As shown in Table 8, creativity and verbal IQ
significantly predicted complex pretend play for the Anglo-
American sample.
Discussion
Overall, the results of the study suggest that cultural
influences lead to significant differences in Korean- and
Anglo-American children's pretend play. Not only were
differences found between pretend play and factors
influencing pretend play, but these differences were
traceable to specific cultural distinctions between the two
samples. Thus, current models of pretend play were shown to
be specific to Anglo-American children rather than
universally applicable to children of all cultures.
As hypothesized, Korean-American children engaged in
less pretend play than Anglo-American children. This result
corresponds with findings found in Farver, et al.'s (in
press) earlier study of Korean-American preschoolers in
which lower levels of pretend play for Korean-Americans were
also observed. Farver, et al., noted that the lower
frequency of pretend play among Korean-American children may
be explained by the group orientation characteristic of
Korean culture and its deemphasis on individuality and self-
expression. Because of such values, Korean cultural values
may hinder children's expression of pretend play by imposing
Pretend Play
50
obstacles to the abandonment of self-consciousness and the
expression of inner creativity necessary to engage in
pretend play.
The results of the study also confirm the hypothesis
that Anglo-American children would be rated by teachers as
more personally and socially adaptable than Korean-American
children. However, unlike the study's hypothesis that
Anglo-American children would be rated by teachers as more
socially competent than Korean-American children, the
results showed no significant differences between Korean-
and Anglo-American children, and in fact revealed that
Korean-American children were rated by teachers as socially
difficult with peers. A possible explanation for these
findings is that teachers' ratings of social competence
reflect differing perceptions of the teachers as to what
proper peer social interaction should be. The Korean-
American children's higher teacher ratings of socially
difficult with peers may be the result of the teacher's own
cultural view as to what behaviors indicate social
competence and standards as to how cooperative children
should be with one another. In Korean culture, group
harmony is stressed to a greater degree than American
culture. As a result, teachers of the Korean-American
children, who themselves were first-generation Korean-
Pretend Play
51
Americans, may have imposed more exacting standards on
children's social interaction in line with their own
cultural values. Thus, behavior which may not have been
considered socially difficult among Anglo-Americans could
have been considered so by Korean-American teachers and thus
rated as more difficult.
Differences in teacher’s perceptions may also account
for the study’s findings regarding task-orientation and
reactivity as well. In looking at these factors as rated by
teachers, the results showed no significant differences
between the Korean- and Anglo-American children, thus
failing to confirm the study's hypothesis that Korean-
American children would be more task oriented and less
reactive than Anglo-American children. However, as was the
case in looking at social competence, this failure to find
significant differences may be the result of the differing
perceptions of the teachers in rating children's behavior.
As was stated above, it is possible that the Korean-American
teachers held children to a higher standard with respect to
persistence in tasks and reactivity due to their own
culturally-influenced perception of what constituted
appropriate behavior, and thus, may have imposed more
stringent criteria in rating Korean-American children in
these areas.
Pretend Play
52
With respect to the study’s fourth hypothesis, the
results showed that Korean-American children scored
significantly higher on the performance IQ subtest.
However, Anglo-American children scored significantly higher
on the verbal IQ. The significant difference in verbal IQ
scores, while not predicted in the study’s hypothesis, may
nonetheless have a culturally-derived explanation in that
American culture, with its emphasis on self-expression, may
facilitate greater verbal expression than Korean culture.
In contrast to American culture, Korean culture places great
weight on self-control and possesses a hierarchical
structure which discourages adult-child verbal interaction
{Chu, 1978). Thus, Korean culture's emphasis on academic
achievement and hard work may explain Korean-American
children's higher performance IQ scores while its emphasis
on hierarchy may explain lower verbal IQ score.
In looking at creativity, the results show that Anglo-
American children were not more creative than the Korean-
American children. Thus, the study's hypothesis that Anglo-
American children would be more creative than Korean-
American children was also not confirmed. This lack of
confirmation may be explained by Starkweather's (1964)
observation that components of creativity identified in
older children are not yet differentiated in younger
Pretend Play
53
children. Thus, perhaps this lack of finding may be
explained by the relatively young ages of the subjects. In
addition, it is also possible that the effects of culture-
specific socialization practices may not have yet been able
to influence children's expression of creativity. Previous
research has shown that older Korean-American children tend
to be less adept at thinking creatively and independently
(Kim, 1977). Thus, perhaps as the Korean-American children
grow older and cultural influences continue to shape their
development, lower levels of creativity may become apparent.
With regards to parents' attitudes toward play,
creativity, and their belief in their ability to achieve
academic readiness at home, Korean-American parents scored
significantly lower in their attitudes toward creativity and
lower on their attitudes toward play as was expected,
although not significantly so. Moreover, as was
hypothesized, Korean-American parents did not believe that
they would be able to achieve academic readiness at home.
As was suggested earlier, this result may be caused by the
hierarchical nature of Korean culture and the enormous
respect which Koreans have toward teachers and education.
Because of this view toward education and educators, it is
possible that Korean-American parents may not believe that
they themselves possess the ability prepare their child for
Pretend Play
54
success in school without teacher assistance. Thus,
although Korean-American parents are highly involved in
their children's education, they may perceive that their own
contribution is, in and of itself, insufficient in achieving
academic success.
In examining pretend play and its correlates, several
interesting relationships were uncovered. The predictions
that pretend play would be related to creativity and
socially flexible temperament were confirmed. However,
there were no relationships found between pretend play and
sociability with peers as rated by teachers and positive
parental attitudes toward their children's play and their
children's creativity. Moreover, positive relationships
between pretend play and verbal IQ and parents beliefs about
their own ability to foster academic readiness at home, and
a negative relationship between pretend play and teacher
ratings of socially hesitant with peers, were uncovered.
Based on these findings, the conclusion may be drawn that to
engage in pretend play, children do not necessarily have to
be sociable with peers. However, the results suggest that
it may be necessary that children at least not be socially
hesitant with peers to be able to minimally interact and
engage in pretend play activities with other children.
Similarly, while children who engage in pretend play may not
Pretend Play
55
need to be especially intelligent overall, it may be
necessary that they possess a certain level of verbal skill,
since these skills may be required to initiate and maintain
pretend play with other children.
Finally, the results of the study demonstrate that in
examining individual characteristics and parental attitudes
when looking at both Korean- and Anglo-American children
together, personal and social adaptability, parents'
attitudes toward teaching, sociable with peers, creativity
score, and verbal IQ were significant predictors of pretend
play. With the exception of the parents' attitudes toward
teaching, each of these predictors supports findings of
previous research on pretend play. Moreover, although
cognitive functioning as measured by an IQ test was not
expected to predict pretend play because of the inconclusive
results of previous studies examining pretend play and
intelligence, this study reveals that the verbal subset of
IQ, as opposed to the full IQ or performance IQ subset, does
significantly predict pretend play. This finding
corresponds with the notion that engagement in pretend play
with other children requires the ability to communicate and
negotiate with others as well as act out roles while
involved in such play (Garvey, 1991).
Pretend Play
56
Interestingly, parents' attitudes toward play and
creativity did not predict pretend play, as would be
expected. However, parents' attitudes toward teaching
significantly predicted pretend play. Because little
research exists examining this relationship, it is possible
that certain aspects of this dimension may be influential in
explaining pretend play which have yet to be fully explored.
However, when examining variables predicting pretend
play for the Anglo- and Korean-American samples alone, the
results show that different models of pretend play apply to
each sample. In correspondence with previous research
findings derived from studies conducted on white middle-
class Western samples, Anglo-American children's pretend
play was predicted by creativity and verbal IQ. Thus, the
results suggest that Anglo-American children who are pretend
players were also more original and more verbally skilled
than non-players. To engage in pretend play with other
children, children must be able to verbally communicate with
peers and cogently express their pretend play ideas.
Moreover, in order to evoke and maintain interest in such
interaction, these ideas must be novel and compelling ones.
As a result, children who engage in pretend play may also
have greater abilities in these developmental domains.
Pretend Play-
57
However, in looking at Korean-American children alone,
two other factors not noted as predictors in the previous
studies - socially difficult and parents' attitudes toward
teaching - were found to predict pretend play for Korean-
Americans. In explaining why these factors may predict
pretend play in Korean-American children, both factors seem
to be indicative of Korean-American parents and children who
are somehow “different” from the norm. Korean-American
children who engage in more complex pretend play may be
viewed by their teachers as being socially difficult with
peers because engaging in pretend play oftentimes involves
more expressive and animated behavior than other forms of
play. Korean-American teachers may interpret such behavior
as uncooperative and disruptive, leading to more negative
perceptions of child's rating of social competence.
Likewise, since it was shown that Korean-American parents
tend to view themselves as less likely to achieve academic
readiness at home, those Korean-American parents who scored
higher in this category were somewhat non-traditional in
their viewpoint. Because of such an outlook, these parents
may have been more accepting of non-traditional behaviors in
their children such as pretend play as well.
The fact that two factors which did not predict pretend
play for Anglo-Americans did predict pretend play for
Pretend Play
58
Korean-Americans suggests that findings based on studies of
Anglo-American samples may not be generalizable to Korean-
American children. Thus, separate models of predictors of
pretend play should be formulated to account for culturally-
specific variations between the two cultures.
One limitation of this study was the small sample size.
This limited the number of predictor variables and made it
difficult to generalize from the results. Moreover, due to
observational rather than experimental approach taken in
this study, this study refrains from making causal
directional statements regarding pretend play and pretend
play correlates. Finally, because the WPPSI-R has not been
standardized for Korean-American children, the information
subtest was translated into Korean for the Korean-American
subjects. Thus, the act of translating the information
subset may not have accurately replicated the English WPPSI-
R questions, possibly calling validity into question for
this subtest. Thus, standardization of the WPPSI-R for
other languages would greatly facilitate more accurate
measurement of verbal skills.
Pretend Play
59
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Asset Metadata

Creator Kim, Yonnie Kwak (author)

Core Title Predictors of pretend play in Korean-American and Anglo-American preschool children

School Graduate School

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Psychology

Degree Conferral Date 1995-08

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, early childhood,OAI-PMH Harvest,psychology, developmental,recreation,sociology, ethnic and racial studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Farver, JoAnn M. (committee chair), [Ortiz] (committee member), Manis, Frank (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-2389

Unique identifier UC11357649

Identifier 1376470.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-2389 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 1376470-0.pdf

Dmrecord 2389

Document Type Thesis

Rights Kim, Yonnie Kwak

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA