From imagination to reality: Understanding the relation between pretend play and social competence in early childhood

Summary In Chapter 2, a meta-analysis was presented in which the value of pretend play for social competence was examined in early childhood (children aged 3-8 years). A systematic search resulted in 34 empirical studies and 188 associations between pretend play and social competence. The findings revealed a positive but small overall relation between pretend play and social competence. This relation was negatively affected by children’s age, indicating that the relation slightly weakens as children grow older. In addition, it was found that studies measuring the quality of pretend play (such as the complexity of children’s pretend play scenario) showed a stronger relation between pretend play and social competence in comparison to studies measuring the amount of pretend play (time spent in pretend play). Given that most studies included in this meta-analysis were cross-sectional, no claims could be made about causality and the direction of the relation between pretend play and social competence. Still, the findings indicate a positive relation between pretend play and social competence regardless of how the latter was measured. In Chapter 3, the relation between pretend play complexity and social competence was investigated in early childhood education (N = 248 children aged 3-6 years). The study specifically examined whether social-emotional behavior during pretend play (i.e., emotionally positive/productive and emotionally regulated/prosocial behavior) mediated the relation between pretend play complexity and social cognitive skills. The findings revealed no direct relation between pretend play complexity and social cognitive skills, nor did social-emotional behavior mediate this relation. However, pretend play complexity was positively related to children’s social-emotional behaviors during pretend play, potentially highlighting the social nature of pretend play. In Chapter 4, a study was described in which the effect of a pretend play intervention on social competence was investigated in early childhood education. An eight-week intervention study was conducted with 333 preschoolers (aged 3-7 years). Social competence was assessed at two levels: social-cognitive skills (skills level) and social-emotional behavior during pretend play (indexical level) before and after the eight-week period. The findings revealed no significant effect of the pretend play intervention on either social cognitive skills or social-emotional behaviors. These results raise important questions about how pretend play interventions are designed and their effectiveness in supporting the development of social competence in early childhood education.