The purpose of the present study was to investigate children's connected communication during play with a sibling and friend from early to middle childhood. Participants included 65 4-year-old focal children at time 1 (T1) and 46 7-year-old focal children at time 2 (T2) who were videotaped at home in separate semi-structured free play sessions…

The present study examined features of sibling and friend dyads' connectedness (e.g., length and emotional tone of connected sequences) and the quality of the dyads' interactions during play from early to middle childhood. Forty-four families with a 4-year-old focal child were observed at Time 1 (T1) and again at Time 2 (T2) at age 7 in two…

Research Findings: Pretend play is an important context that supports young children's developing social-cognitive and creative abilities. The play behaviors of 70 sibling dyads in early and middle childhood were examined for the following indices of creativity in play: (a) play themes (set-up/organization, expected, creative), (b) object use…

Research Findings: Sibling pretend play, collaboration, and creativity during maternal presence and absence were investigated in 24 dyads in early and middle childhood (younger siblings' M age = 5.3 years; older siblings' M age = 8.2 years). Associations between sibling behavior and maternal interaction (e.g., guidance, positive responses) were…

Research Findings: Sibling teaching and learning behaviors were investigated in 2 studies of children in early and middle childhood. Study 1 addressed individual differences in teaching/learning and associations with dyadic age, age gap, gender, birth order, and relationship quality in 71 middle-class dyads (firstborns M age = 81.54 months;…