Study: Relationships Amongst Toddlers
Photo by BBC Creative on Unsplash
A recent study by Ayelet Lahat, Michal Perlman, Nina Howe, Holly Recchia, William Bukowski and Jonathan Santo used a unique dataset to study how relationships form amongst toddlers. The study included 32 toddlers of two different age cohorts, with children aged either about 20 months or about 30 months. Each toddler was paired with two same-age, same-gender toddlers and each pair met for 18 different 45-minute play dates over a four-month period.
The study observed how very young children, at 20 months, developed peer relationships and how they are capable of engaging in complex games as they get to know a peer over time. The study concluded: “The frequency of games increased over time, while the frequency of conflict and contingency sequences decreased. The length of games increased over time while the length of conflicts and contingency sequences were stable. Age and language ability predicted changes in frequency and length of the different types of sequences. Thus, toddlers engage in less structured interactions when they first meet; their interactions become increasingly more organized and positive as the relationship evolves.”
The article notes that the play dates alternated between the toddlers’ homes, supervised by the children’s mothers, who were asked to allow the children to interact freely with one another and not to direct or organize the children’s play whilst being free to respond to the toddlers’ overtures.
A first study, looking at the change in interactions over time, found that, as toddlers form peer relationships, positive interactions such as games, social pretend play and relationship-affirming gestures such as greeting, thanking each other, or laughing in delight, increased, and conflicts/negative actions such as inflicting bodily harm or disruptive fussing, decreased.
A second study on positive and negative actions found that toddlers’ behaviours, when they initially meet, set the stage for the relationships they develop. So, it is important for toddlers to have more positive interactions at the beginning of the relationship.
A third study on social pretend play, which is currently in press, indicated that young children are capable of engaging in social pretend play — a form of complex interaction — with peers.
Successful initiations of pretend play increased faster as children got to know one another, towards later play dates. Children’s age and language abilities were positively associated with the frequency and the length of social pretend play.
The findings of the study indicate the value to toddlers of having a consistent play partner, as children’s interactions become more involved and sophisticated as they get to know each other better.
Given that a positive peer can promote positive peer interactions and relationships, the article advises parents/caregivers to intervene and support children when initial negative interactions occur and to encourage positive interactions between the children, such as modeling or encouraging the child to invite the peer to play games by sharing toys.