Ansley T. Gilpin a, Melissa M. Brown b & Jillian M. Pierucci c a Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama. Published online: 12 Feb 2015

This article was downloaded by: [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] On: 19 February 2015, At: 08:15 Publisher: Routledge Informa Lt...
Author: Claude Chapman
4 downloads 0 Views 156KB Size
This article was downloaded by: [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] On: 19 February 2015, At: 08:15 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Early Education and Development Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/heed20

Relations Between Fantasy Orientation and Emotion Regulation in Preschool a

b

Ansley T. Gilpin , Melissa M. Brown & Jillian M. Pierucci

c

a

Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama

b

Department of Family Sciences, Texas Woman’s University

c

Department of Psychology, St. Mary’s University Published online: 12 Feb 2015.

Click for updates To cite this article: Ansley T. Gilpin, Melissa M. Brown & Jillian M. Pierucci (2015): Relations Between Fantasy Orientation and Emotion Regulation in Preschool, Early Education and Development, DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2015.1000716 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.1000716

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/termsand-conditions

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

Early Education and Development, 0: 1–13 Copyright # 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1040-9289 print/1556-6935 online DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2015.1000716

Relations Between Fantasy Orientation and Emotion Regulation in Preschool Ansley T. Gilpin Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama

Melissa M. Brown Department of Family Sciences, Texas Woman’s University

Jillian M. Pierucci Department of Psychology, St. Mary’s University Research Findings: Emotion regulation is a strong predictor of both short- and long-term peer relationships and social competence and is often targeted in preschool curricula and interventions. Pretense is a natural activity of childhood that is thought to facilitate the development of socialization, perspective taking, language, and possibly emotion regulation. This study investigated whether fantasy-oriented children, who engage in more pretense, demonstrate higher levels of emotion regulation. Prekindergartners (n ¼ 103) and teachers were given a battery of measures assessing children’s emotion regulation, fantasy orientation, theory of mind, and language. Results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children’s proclivity toward fantastical play (their fantasy orientation) uniquely predicted 24% of the variance in their emotion regulation skills over and above typical predictors: age, theory of mind, and language skills. That is, children who participated in more fantasy pretense demonstrated better emotion regulation skills than their peers. Practice or Policy: The present study suggests that future research, curriculum, and interventions should focus on targeting fantastical pretense to assess causal mechanisms of emotion regulation development. Teachers and parents should encourage children’s fantastical pretense, as research suggests it may be an important contributor to the development of critical socialization skills such as emotion regulation.

Vygotsky posited that sociodramatic play provides an enriching environment that scaffolds a myriad of cognitive and social skills. Supporting Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, research has demonstrated that relations exist between pretend play and children’s perspective taking and theory of mind skills, with increased pretend play correlating with children’s improved understanding of others’ mental states (Lillard, Pinkham, & Smith, 2011; Taylor & Carlson, 1997). In addition, research indicates that social competence might underlie both theory of mind skills and sociodramatic play. For example, one study found that children rated as popular often engage in more pretense and behave in more socially competent ways during pretense (Black, 1992). Fantasy-oriented children have also been shown to be more likely to get along well with others (D. G. Singer & Singer, 1990; J. L. Singer & Singer, 1981). The more children engage in Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Ansley Gilpin, Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. E-mail: [email protected]

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

2

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

pretend play, the more opportunities they have to discover that other people possess different mental states and perspectives than they themselves do. Given these findings, it is possible that increased socialization skills and insight into others leads to increased insights into one’s own self. This increased insight may lead fantasy-oriented children to develop better emotion regulation strategies. The present study investigated how a child’s fantasy orientation might be related to developing emotion regulation skills. Specifically, we hypothesized that children who participate in more fantasy pretense would demonstrate better emotion regulation skills than their peers over and above variables that have already been found to be related to emotion regulation (e.g., age and theory of mind understanding). This knowledge would be important to guide future research, curriculum, and interventions to focus on increasing fantastical pretense, for the purpose of both assessing causal mechanisms of emotion regulation and identifying variables that contribute to the development of emotion regulation and other critical socialization skills.

FANTASY ORIENTATION Fantasy orientation has been defined as an individual’s tendency to think and play in a fantastical realm (Pierucci, O’Brien, McInnis, Gilpin, & Barber, 2013; Sharon & Woolley, 2004; D. G. Singer & Singer, 1990; Taylor, 1999; Taylor, Cartwright, & Carlson, 1993). Fantasy orientation is viewed as a spectrum, with some people exhibiting greater preference for fantasy-based play/ thoughts (e.g., pretending, fantasizing, and daydreaming) and others exhibiting greater preference for more reality-based play (e.g., rule-based games). For example, fantasy-oriented children are more likely to prefer pretense, media, and toys that involve a fantasy element, such as preferring to engage in fantastical pretense (e.g., pretending to space travel in a cardboard box) rather than play kickball or tag (Taylor & Carlson, 1997). Researchers have documented that adults with creative careers, such as fiction writers, were more likely to have been fantasyoriented children (Taylor, Hodges, & Kohányi, 2002). One might wonder whether these children simply have a tenuous ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. However, past research has well documented that children are easily able to distinguish fantasy from reality by age 3 or 4 (Estes, Wellman, & Woolley, 1989; Sharon & Woolley, 2004; Wellman & Estes, 1986; Woolley & Wellman, 1990). Given that preschool-age children can discriminate fantasy from reality and enjoy engaging in fantastical pretense, several measures have been designed to assess individual children’s fantasy orientation. Fantasy orientation measures for children are often composed of interviews assessing their willingness, interest, and propensity to engage in fantasy pretense (e.g., role-playing as a fairy or superhero), to create imaginary companions, and/or to have beliefs in fantastical entities (e.g., fairies, dragons, or Santa Claus; Boerger, Tullos, & Woolley, 2009; Pierucci et al., 2013; D. G. Singer & Singer, 1990; Taylor, 1999; Taylor & Carlson, 1997; Woolley, Boerger, & Markman, 2004). Although children’s propensity to engage in pretend play is one measure of fantasy orientation, it should be clarified that this fantastical version of pretend play is not synonymous with traditional role-playing in which children are reenacting everyday experiences. Rather, when referring to fantastical pretense, researchers are measuring children’s propensity to engage in imaginative, chimerical pretense involving an unrealistic representation of the world. Children’s tendency to engage in this fantastical play, their fantasy orientation,

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

3

seems to be a stable individual difference, measured as part of the openness to experience personality trait (McCrae, 1993). However, researchers have not confirmed whether measures of fantasy orientation correlate with reports of children’s openness to experience. This is an important point because it would help inform the debate regarding whether fantasy orientation can be developed through experiences or whether it is relatively stable. If it is stable, it might serve as a moderator for important developing skills, which may help answer fundamental questions about the directionality and causality of development. Thus, a secondary aim of this research was to investigate whether fantasy orientation measures correlate with measures of stable traits rather than behaviors. This finding would help establish that certain natural proclivities, such as fantasy orientation, might incline some children more strongly to pretense, which, as Vygotsky and current researchers have speculated, may be related to the emergence of a myriad of developmental skills, such as language, narration, perspective taking, empathy, and emotion regulation (cf. Lillard et al., 2013, for a review of this literature).

EMOTION REGULATION Emotion regulation generally refers to the basic ability to inhibit, enhance, maintain, and modulate emotional arousal to accomplish a goal (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006; Shields & Cicchetti, 1997). It is a crucial component of the development of positive peer relationships and social competence (Eisenberg et al., 1993; Fabes et al., 1999). Researchers have found emotion regulation to be related to temperamental self-regulatory capacities, such as effortful control (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Eggum, 2010). Although researchers have disagreed regarding its definition (Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004; Eisenberg & Spinrad, 2004), all agree that emotion regulation is an important development in childhood that is related to various longitudinal outcomes, so much so that fostering emotion regulation is often a key focus of preschool interventions (Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, Blair, & Domitrovich, 2008; Domitrovich, Cortes, & Greenberg, 2007; Riggs, Greenberg, Kusche, & Pentz, 2006). In particular, several preventive preschool intervention curriculums focus on children’s developing regulation skills. For example, the PATHS curriculum (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies; Domitrovich, Greenberg, Kusche, & Cortes, 1999) focuses on children’s affective, behavioral, and cognitive competencies to develop school readiness. Children are taught emotion words and practice emotion regulation using child-friendly techniques such as Doing the Turtle, for which children fold their arms around themselves like a turtle shell, breathe, and calm down before expressing their frustrations and seeking a solution. Teachers scaffold children’s socioemotional problem-solving skills throughout the day to foster appropriate emotional expression and peer interactions. Similarly, the Incredible Years Dinosaur child program also focuses on strengthening children’s socioemotional skills, strengthening emotion and behavioral regulation, and practicing good peer relations (Bywater, Hutchings, Whitaker, Evans, & Parry, 2011; Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2004). In addition, Tools of the Mind, a curriculum inspired by Vygotsky, focuses on scaffolding children’s self-regulation as well as their emerging executive functions (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). Most preschool curriculums assess children’s socioemotional development along with their school readiness. In fact, kindergarten teachers surveyed by the National Center for Education Statistics (1993) reported that learning socioemotional and communication skills in preschool was much more important than learning preacademic knowledge

4

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

such as the alphabet and counting. Thus, clearly researchers and teachers alike have honed in on emotion regulation as an important preschool skill. However, questions remain about the variables that might be related to fostering emotion regulation in natural, child-friendly environments. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION Many empirical studies indicate a positive relationship between pretend play and emotion regulation (Elias & Berk, 2002; Fantuzzo, Sekino, & Cohen, 2004; Galyer & Evans, 2001; Hoffman & Russ, 2012; Lemche et al., 2003; Lindsey & Colwell, 2003). As a potential explanation for this relationship, researchers have generally argued that pretend play affords children the opportunity to practice highly arousing emotional experiences, to release tension and try to understand troubling events, and to garner emotion regulation skills in a safe environment that permits (and often encourages) creative affect expressions (Bretherton, 1989; Erikson, 1950; Fein, 1989; Freud, 1925; Hoffman & Russ, 2012; Howes & Matheson, 1992). Some researchers have even argued that the main purpose of pretend play is emotion regulation (Bretherton, 1989; Fein, 1989). As pointed out by Lillard and colleagues (2013), however, the limited research exploring links between pretend play and emotion regulation is unhelpful in determining whether the route from pretend play to emotion regulation is equifinal or epiphenomenal. Thus, it is prudent to continue this line of research, especially with experimental or intervention research, as well as explore how constructs related to pretend play might also be related to the development of emotion regulation. For example, it would be interesting to note how children’s fantasy orientation, hypothesized to be a stable trait-like construct akin to personality, might be related to the development of emotion regulation. One reason why fantasy-oriented children might have better emotion regulation skills is that children who engage in high levels of fantasy play, such as those who engage in pretend play and those with imaginary companions, receive extra practice taking the perspectives of the characters they are imbuing with personalities, thoughts, and emotions. The more children engage in this activity the more opportunities they have to discover that other people possess different mental states and perspectives than they themselves do. These play scripts tend to be dramatic (e.g., being chased by dragons or having magical powers), expressing high emotionality, which may provide fantasy-oriented children with extra practice modulating their emotions. Fantasyoriented children switch in and out of the pretense realm often, which new research suggests is related to advanced executive function skills (Pierucci et al., 2013). Executive functions such as inhibitory control are also integral to the development of emotion regulation (Carlson & Wang, 2007; Feng et al., 2008). There has been no known causal research completed to date, but interesting hypotheses about causality can be formed based on these initial correlational findings. For example, one might hypothesize that fantasy orientation moderates the development of executive functions as well as possibly moderates other related skills, such as emotion regulation. PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT STUDY The primary aim of the present study was to investigate how a child’s fantasy orientation might be related to developing emotion regulation skills. Because past research indicates that age

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

5

(Eisenberg et al., 2010; Shields & Cicchetti, 1997; Williams, Ponesse, Schachar, Logan, & Tannock, 1999), theory of mind understanding (Carlson, Moses, & Breton, 2002; Perner & Lang, 1999; Rothmayr et al., 2011; Sabbagh, Xu, Carlson, Moses, & Lee, 2006), and verbal ability (Carlson & Wang, 2007; Cole, Armstrong, & Pemberton, 2010) are related to components of emotion regulation, these associations were also measured in order to determine the unique contribution of fantasy orientation to emotion regulation skills. It was hypothesized that teacher reports of fantasy orientation would significantly predict emotion regulation skills, even after age, theory of mind understanding, and verbal ability were controlled. In addition, as research suggests that fantasy orientation is a component of the personality trait of openness to experience (McCrae, 1993), a secondary aim was to assess the relationship between our measures of fantasy orientation and the Openness to Experience subscale of the Big Five Inventory. It was expected that fantasy orientation would be positively correlated with the Openness to Experience subscale, which would support the hypothesis that fantasy orientation is a stable trait implicated in children’s proclivity toward pretend play.

METHOD Participants Participants were 103 children enrolled in prekindergarten classes and their teachers. The average age was 4 years, 11 months (M ¼ 59.28, SD ¼ 6.44; range ¼ 48–71 months; 50 females and 53 males). In all, 73% of the children were Caucasian, 23% were African American, and 4% were not specified. Moreover, 32% of the families had annual incomes less than $24,999, 50% had incomes that ranged from $25,000 to $64,999, and 18% reported incomes of more than $65,000. Children and their teachers were recruited from preschools in the southeastern region of the United States. Procedure As part of a larger study (Pierucci et al., 2013), children received a battery of cognitive/social measures, including a theory of mind (false belief) task and a measure of receptive vocabulary, across two 25-min sessions. Interviews occurred in a private room or area in the school that was designated for testing. Teachers also answered questions about children’s emotion regulation, personality, and fantasy orientation. Parents and teachers provided informed written consent, and children provided verbal assent. Measures Fantasy Orientation Questionnaire (Gilpin, 2009). The Fantasy Orientation Questionnaire (Gilpin, 2009; Pierucci et al., 2013) measures children’s overall fantasy orientation and correlates well with lengthier measures of fantasy orientation. Questions address beliefs in fantastical figures; favorite books, games, television shows, and videogames; and overall interest in fantasy. For the present study, only the item measuring overall interest in fantasy was used.

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

6

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

Teachers were asked to rate children’s level of fantasy orientation on a 5-point scale, with 1 indicating “strongly interested in reality (e.g., play sports),” 2 indicating “sometimes interested in fantasy, but mostly interested in reality,” 3 indicating “equally interested in fantastical and reality play/media,” 4 indicating “mostly interested in fantasy, but sometimes interested in reality,” and 5 indicating “strongly interested in fantasy (e.g., often engages in pretense, enjoys fantastical books, etc.).” Emotion Regulation Checklist (Shields & Cicchetti, 1995, 1997). This is a 24-item other-report measure of children’s self-regulation. It includes two subscales: Emotion Regulation and Lability/Negativity (Cronbach’s αs ¼ .83 and .96, respectively). The Emotion Regulation subscale measures situationally appropriate affective displays, empathy, and emotional self-awareness, with higher scores indicating better emotion regulation. Sample items include “Can say when s/he is feeling sad, angry or mad, afraid or fearful” and “Is empathic toward others.” The Lability/Negativity subscale measures mood lability, flexibility, and dysregulated negative affect, with higher scores indicating more negativity. Sample items include “Exhibits wide mood swings” and “Is prone to angry outbursts.” Teachers were asked to rate the statements along a 4-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating never and 4 indicating always. Subscale scores were the means of items in the subscale. Big Five Inventory–short form (BFI-10; Rammstedt & John, 2007). This 10-item measure of personality is an abbreviated version of the longer 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-44). It includes five subscales: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. The BFI-10 has been found to retain significant levels of reliability and validity compared to BFI-44. Of interest to the present study was the relationship between fantasy orientation and the Openness to Experience subscale. Teachers rated the following questions on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating disagree strongly and 5 indicating agree strongly: “Has few artistic interests” (reverse scored) and “Has an active imagination.” Subscale scores were the means of items in the subscale. Theory of mind task (control). As mentioned previously, age, theory of mind understanding, and verbal ability are related to emotion regulation. Therefore, we measured and controlled for these variables in order to assess the unique contribution of fantasy orientation to emotion regulation. The Contents False Belief Task is a variant of the classic Perner, Leekam, and Wimmer (1987) “smarties” task that measures false belief, a component of theory of mind ability. Each child participant was presented with a box clearly labeled Band-Aids. After being asked what he or she thought was inside the box, the child was allowed to open the box and discover that it did not have the expected contents (i.e., it had stickers instead of Band-Aids). Children were then asked about their own former beliefs (i.e., “When you first saw this box, before you looked inside, did you think there were Band-Aids or stickers inside?”; representational change question) and about the belief of someone else not present (i.e., “Your teacher has not looked inside this box. Will she think there are Band-Aids or stickers inside?”; false belief question). Correct responses to the false belief and representational questions were coded 1 and incorrect responses were coded 0, for a range from 0 to 2.

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

7

Receptive vocabulary (control). The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition Form B (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 2007), which has internal consistency rates of 87% to 96%, was administered as a measure of verbal intelligence. The experimenter stated a vocabulary word that corresponded to one of four colored pictures, and children were asked to point to the picture that best illustrated the word. Children were first tested on training items (e.g., a picture of a baby), and after they passed the training items, the experimenter continued with the following items, which were progressively harder. There were a total of 19 sets with 12 items in each set, totaling a maximum of 228 items. Once a participant committed 8 or more errors within one set, the experimenter ended the test. Standard scores were used in the data analyses.

RESULTS Preliminary Analyses Descriptive statistics can be found in Table 1. Analyses on this data set were conducted to confirm results found in past literature regarding the relationship between our primary and related variables: fantasy orientation, emotion regulation, age, theory of mind (false belief), and receptive vocabulary (PPVT). As predicted by past research, a significant positive correlation was found between teacher reports of children’s fantasy orientation and false belief understanding, r(85) ¼ .331, p ¼ .002. This indicates that as the level of fantasy orientation increased, false belief understanding also increased. Possibly because of the restricted age range and a high percentage of children who had already achieved theory of mind (>70%), no correlation between age in months and false belief understanding was identified in these data, as has been shown in past research. See Table 2 for a complete correlation matrix. In addition, no significant effects of gender on the variables of interest were found.

Fantasy Orientation and Openness to Experience (Big Five Subscale) An analysis was conducted to investigate whether our measure of fantasy orientation was correlated with the Openness to Experience subscale of the BFI-10. Teacher reports of fantasy orientation were found to be marginally positively correlated with teacher reports of children’s TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics Variable Age in months PPVT standard score False belief Fantasy orientation Emotion regulation (ERC subscale) Openness to experience

M

SD

Possible range

59.28 105.95 1.28 3.20 3.28 3.75

6.44 15.00 0.75 0.87 0.53 0.74

48–71 0–2 1–5 1–4 1–5

PPVT ¼ Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition Form B; ERC ¼ Emotion Regulation Checklist.

8

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

TABLE 2 Correlations (Pearson’s r) Between Fantasy Orientation, Emotion Regulation, Age in Months, False Belief Scores, and PPVT Standard Scores Variable

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.



–.279** —

.076 .429** —

.128 .013 .216* —

.055 .030 .109 .50*** —

.041 .069 .117 .199 .440*** —

Age in months PPVT standard scores False belief Fantasy orientation Emotion regulation (ERC subscale) Openness to experience

PPVT ¼ Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition Form B; ERC ¼ Emotion Regulation Checklist. *p < .05. **p ≤ .01 (2-tailed). ***p ≤ .001 (2-tailed).

openness to experience, r(87) ¼ .20, p ¼ .065. This finding lends support to our secondary hypothesis that fantasy orientation is a stable, trait-like construct. Fantasy Orientation and Emotion Regulation To assess our primary hypothesis, that fantasy orientation and emotion regulation are positively related, we conducted a hierarchical linear regression analysis on teacher reports of emotion regulation with age in months, false belief, and receptive vocabulary scores entered on Step 1 as covariates and fantasy orientation entered on Step 2. This analysis indicated that Step 1 explained 1% of the variance in emotion regulation scores (R2 ¼ .012) and that the overall model was not significant, F(3, 76) ¼ .30, p ¼ .825. Adding fantasy orientation on Step 2 explained an additional 24% of the variance in emotion regulation scores (R2 ¼ .244), and this increment in the model was significant, ▵F(1, 75) ¼ 23.00 p < .001. The overall model was also significant, F(4, 75) ¼ 6.04, p < .001, R2 ¼ .244. The final regression equation was y^ ¼ 2.519  .002Xage in months þ .001Xfalse belief þ .00001XPPVT þ .290Xfantasy orientation. In addition, when fantasy orientation was entered as the sole predictor of emotion regulation, it accounted for 25% of the variance (overall model: F(1, 85) ¼ 28.37, p < .001, y^ ¼ 2.415 þ .289Xfantasy orientation). These analyses indicated that as teacher reports of fantasy orientation increased, so did reports of emotion regulation skills and that this relation was not driven by age, verbal ability, or theory of mind understanding.

DISCUSSION Results from hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children’s proclivity toward fantastical play (their fantasy orientation) uniquely predicted 24% of the variance in their emotion regulation skills over and above known predictors: age, theory of mind, and language skills. That is, children who participated in more fantasy pretense demonstrated better emotion regulation skills than their peers. Indeed, researchers since Vygotsky have suggested a link between pretend play (e.g., sociodramatic play) and a myriad of developmental skills, such as language, narration, emotion regulation, perspective taking, and empathy (Elias & Berk, 2002; Fantuzzo

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

9

et al., 2004; Galyer & Evans, 2001; Göncü, Jain, & Tuermer, 2007; Harris, 2000; Hoffman & Russ, 2012; Howes & Matheson, 1992; Lemche et al., 2003; Lindsey & Colwell, 2003; Nicolopoulou, 2006; Youngblade & Dunn, 1995). Researchers suggest that this complex play involves rich language, the flexible use of mental representations to help facilitate self-regulation, and an enriched environment to foster neurological development in the frontal lobe. In addition, they suggest that children who participate in complex sociodramatic play (with more dialogue, flexible mental representations, etc.) show earlier and better long-term regulation skills into adolescence (Berk, Mann, & Ogan, 2006). Results from the present study extend these findings of a relationship between emotion regulation and transient, state-like pretense behaviors to the relationship between emotion regulation and the stable, trait-like fantasy orientation construct. Fantasy orientation is a natural proclivity toward highly imaginative cognitions and play, is measured as a part of personality, and seems to be relatively stable throughout the lifespan (McCrae, 1993; Taylor et al., 2002). Fantasy-oriented children commonly engage in higher levels of sociodramatic play, often with a highly imaginative theme, and have been shown to have improved perspective taking, theory of mind, and language skills relative to their peers (Lillard et al., 2013; D. G. Singer & Singer, 1990; Taylor & Carlson, 1997). Our data demonstrate that children who score high on measures of fantasy orientation also have better emotion regulation skills, even after their age, theory of mind, and language skills are statistically controlled. What this suggests is that children who have a natural inclination to think and play in a fantastical realm may use their mental representations more flexibly as tools to help facilitate self-regulation, as Vygotsky suggested. In addition, fantasyoriented children may have improved emotion regulation via practiced executive function skills, such as inhibition and attention shift, possibly because of their switching in and out of the fantastical realm. Indeed, research has shown relations between children’s developing inhibitory and emotion regulation skills (Carlson & Wang, 2007). The current research also presents an initial step toward establishing that a measure of fantasy orientation corresponds to reports of children’s openness to experience. Past research indicates that the tendency to fantasize is measured by the Openness to Experience personality subscale (McCrae, 1993). We found that teacher reports of children’s overall fantasy orientation were marginally correlated with reports of their openness. Given this finding and its synchrony with past research, it is possible that our fantasy orientation measure may have been measuring a stable trait. Furthermore, this suggests that this trait could be accompanied by better emotion regulation skills in preschool children. Future research might investigate whether fantasy orientation is indeed a stable trait-like construct, and furthermore whether it plays a role in the development of skills such as emotion regulation. This information might guide parents and teachers to encourage children in their natural proclivity toward fantasy-oriented play. There are several limitations to the present study. One limitation is its correlational, rather than experimental, nature. The present data suggest that fantasy orientation and emotion regulation are related constructs, though these data cannot determine causality or directionality. Thus, future research should investigate the relationship between these two constructs using experimental paradigms, such as interventions. It would also be helpful to see these data replicated with a wider age range, multiple informants/contexts, and a larger assessment battery. Although the preschool years are the pinnacle of pretense and the development of emotion regulation, it would be interesting to see how these constructs are related at earlier and later time points. In the current study, our limited age range is likely the reason why we found no correlations between age in

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

10

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

months and theory of mind understanding, emotion regulation skills, or receptive vocabulary. Future research should explore a broader age range in order to capture a wider view of development. In addition, another limitation is that our hypotheses were answered through a secondary data analysis of an existing data set, which prohibited us from selecting the ideal battery to address these hypotheses. Future studies should also be conducted with a larger, targeted battery. Nonetheless, these data do provide important and timely insights into relations between fantasy orientation and emotion regulation and lend support to the recent call for experimental research on this topic. For example, our lab is currently investigating the effects of a fantasy play curriculum intervention for preschool-age children with the goal of answering questions about directionality, causality, epiphenomenalism, and equifinality. With regard to policy and practice, the current findings suggest that future research, curriculum, and interventions should focus on increasing complex sociodramatic play, including fantastical pretense, to assess causal mechanisms of emotion regulation development. In addition, parents and teachers should pay attention to whether a child is fantasy or reality oriented and specifically encourage reality-oriented children to engage in more linguistically scaffolded fantastical play, as it may be related to the development of critical socialization skills such as emotion regulation. This can be done easily by helping children think of fantastical play scripts prior to play and by providing props and locations for the play to ensure that play time is a complex, enriching experience for young children. A take-home message for parents and teachers of preschool children is to not shy away from highly fantastical play themes, as these may create especially rich and complex sociodramatic play. As Vygotsky and current researchers speculate, rich sociodramatic play may be a key ingredient in cognitive and social development during the preschool years. Currently it is not known whether complex fantastical play (a) facilitates the development of skills such as emotion regulation or vice versa (i.e., directionality), (b) is a necessary mechanism for development (i.e., causality), (c) is one of many developmental pathways for these skills (i.e., equifinality), or (d) simply develops alongside these skills (i.e., epiphenomenalism). However, a plethora of early childhood research would suggest that, at minimum, this play is a benign, fun aspect of childhood. At maximum, it serves as a mechanism for development. Studies like this are important to lend support for the funding of targeted experimental research to answer these questions. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are grateful to the parents, children, preschool staff, and research assistants who participated in this research. FUNDING We are grateful for funding from The University of Alabama’s Research Grants Committee. REFERENCES Berk, L. E., Mann, T. D., & Ogan, A. T. (2006). Make-believe play: Wellspring for development of self-regulation. In D. G. Singer R. M. Golinkoff & K. Hirsh-Pasek (Eds.), Play ¼ learning: How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth (pp. 74–100). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

11

Bierman, K. L., Nix, R. L., Greenberg, M. T., Blair, C., & Domitrovich, C. E. (2008). Executive functions and school readiness intervention: Impact, moderation, and mediation in the Head Start REDI program. Developmental Psychopathology, 20, 821–843. Black, B. (1992). Negotiating social pretend play: Communication differences related to social status and sex. MerrillPalmer Quarterly, 38(2), 212–232. Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education. Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall. Boerger, E. B., Tullos, A., & Woolley, J. D. (2009). Return of the Candy Witch: Individual differences in acceptance and stability of belief in a novel fantastical being. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27, 953–970. Bretherton, I. (1989). Pretense: The form and function of make-believe play. Developmental Review, 9, 239–271. Bywater, T., Hutchings, J., Whitaker, C., Evans, C., & Parry, L. (2011). The Incredible Years therapeutic Dinosaur programme to build social and emotional competence in Welsh primary schools: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 12(39), 1–8. Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J., & Breton, C. (2002). How specific is the relation between executive function and theory of mind? Contributions of inhibitory control and working memory. Infant and Child Development, 11, 73–92. Carlson, S. M., & Wang, T. S. (2007). Inhibitory control and emotion regulation in preschool children. Cognitive Development, 22, 489–510. Cole, P. M., Armstrong, L. M., & Pemberton, C. K. (2010). The role of language in the development of emotion regulation. In S. D. Calkins (Ed.), Child development at the intersection of emotion and cognition (pp. 59–77). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. A. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75, 317–333. Domitrovich, C. E., Cortes, R., & Greenberg, M. T. (2007). Improving young children’s social and emotional competence: A randomized trial of the Preschool PATHS curriculum. Journal of Primary Prevention, 28, 67–91. Domitrovich, C. E., Greenberg, M. T., Kusche, C., & Cortes, R. (1999). Manual for the Preschool PATHS curriculum. South Deerfield, MA: Channing-Bete. Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition. Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Bernzwieg, J., Karbon, M., Poulin, R., & Hanish, L. (1993). The relations of emotionality and regulation to preschooler’s social skills and sociometric status. Child Development, 64, 1418–1438. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial development. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional and personality development (pp. 646–718). New York, NY: Wiley. Eisenberg, N., & Spinrad, T. L. (2004). Emotion-related regulation: Sharpening the definition. Child Development, 75, 334–339. Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Eggum, N. D. (2010). Emotion-related self-regulation and its relation to children’s maladjustment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 495–525. Elias, C. L., & Berk, L. E. (2002). Self-regulation in young children: Is there a role for sociodramatic play? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 17, 1–17. Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York, NY: Norton. Estes, D., Wellman, H. M., & Woolley, J. D. (1989). Children’s understanding of mental phenomena. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 22, 41–87. Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Jones, S., Smith, M., Guthrie, I., Poulin, R., … Friedman, J. (1999). Regulation, emotionality, and preschoolers’ socially competent peer interactions. Child Development, 70, 432–442. Fantuzzo, J., Sekino, Y., & Cohen, H. L. (2004). An examination of the contributions of interactive peer play to salient classroom competencies for urban Head Start children. Psychology in the Schools, 41, 323–336. Fein, G. G. (1989). Mind, meaning, and affect: Proposals for a theory of pretense. Developmental Review, 9, 345–363. Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., Kovacs, M., Lane, T., O’Rourke, F. E., & Alarcon, J. H. (2008). Emotion regulation in preschoolers: The roles of behavioral inhibition, maternal affective behavior, and maternal depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(2), 132–141. Freud, S. (1925). Analysis of phobia in a 5-year-old boy. In Collected papers (Vol. 3, pp. 149–287). London, England: Hogarth. Galyer, K. T., & Evans, I. M. (2001). Pretend play and the development of emotion regulation in preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 166, 93–108.

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

12

GILPIN, BROWN, AND PIERUCCI

Gilpin, A. T. (2009). Mechanisms for overcoming reality status biases (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http:// repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/15344 Harris, P. L. (2000). The work of the imagination. Oxford, England: Blackwell. Göncü, A., Jain, J., & Tuermer, U. (2007). Children’s play as cultural interpretation. In A. Göncü and S. Gaskins (Eds.), Play and development: Evolutionary, sociocultural, and functional perspectives (pp. 155–178). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hoffman, J., & Russ, S. (2012). Pretend play, creativity, and emotion regulation in children. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6, 175–184. Howes, C., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play. Developmental Psychology, 28, 961–974. Lemche, E., Lennertz, I., Rothmann, C., Ari, A., Grote, K., Hafker, J., & Klann-Delius, G. (2003). Emotion-regulatory process in evoked play narratives: Their relation with mental representations and family inter-actions. Praxis der Kingderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie, 52, 156–171. Lillard, A. S., Lerner, M. D., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Smith, E. D., & Palmquist, C. M. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children’s development: A review of the evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 1–34. Lillard, A. S., Pinkham, A. M., & Smith, E. (2011). Pretend play and cognitive development. In U. Goswami (Ed.), Handbook of childhood cognitive development (pp. 285–311). Oxford, England: Blackwell. Lindsey, E. W., & Colwell, M. J. (2003). Preschoolers’ emotional competence: Links to pretend and physical play. Child Study Journal, 33, 39–52. McCrae, R. (1993). Openness to experience as a basic dimension of personality. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 13, 39–55. National Center for Education Statistics. (1993). Public school kindergarten teachers’ views on children’s readiness for school (NCES 93–410). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Nicolopoulou, A. (2006). The interplay of play and narrative in children’s development: Theoretical reflections and concrete examples. In A. Göncü & S. Gaskins (Eds.), Play and development: Evolutionary, sociocultural, and functional perspectives (pp. 247–273). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Perner, J., & Lang, B. (1999). Development of theory of mind and executive control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3, 1081–1105. Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987). Three-year-olds’ difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 125–137. Pierucci, J. M., O’Brien, C. T., McInnis, M. A., Gilpin, A. T., & Barber, A. B. (2013). Fantasy orientation constructs and related executive function development in preschool: Developmental benefits to executive functions by being a fantasy-oriented child. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38, 62–69. Rammstedt, B., & John, O. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 203–212. Riggs, N. R., Greenberg, M. T., Kusche, C. A., & Pentz, M. (2006). The mediational role of neurocognition in the behavioral outcomes of a social-emotional prevention program in elementary school students: Effects of the PATHS curriculum. Prevention Science, 7, 91–102. Rothmayr, C., Sodian, B., Hajak, G., Döhnel, K., Meinhardt, J., & Sommer, M. (2011). Common and distinct neural networks for false-belief reasoning and inhibitory control. NeuroImage, 56, 1705–1713. Sabbagh, M. A., Xu, F., Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J., & Lee, K. (2006). The development of executive functioning and theory of mind: A comparison of Chinese and U.S. preschoolers. Psychological Science, 17, 74–81. Sharon, T., & Woolley, J. D. (2004). Do monsters dream? Young children’s understanding of the fantasy/reality distinction. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22, 293–310. Shields, A. M., & Cicchetti, D. (1995, March). The development of an emotion regulation assessment battery: Reliability and validity among at-risk grade-school children. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN. Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Developmental Psychology, 33, 906–917. Singer, D. G., & Singer, J. L. (1990). The house of make-believe: Children’s play and developing imagination. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Singer, J. L., & Singer, D. G. (1981). Television, imagination, and aggression: A study of preschoolers. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Downloaded by [University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa], [Ansley Gilpin] at 08:15 19 February 2015

FANTASY ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION

13

Taylor, M. (1999). Imaginary companions and the children who create them. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Taylor, M., & Carlson, S. M. (1997). The relation between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind. Child Development, 68, 436–455. Taylor, M., Cartwright, B. S., & Carlson, S. M. (1993). A developmental investigation of children’s imaginary companions. Developmental Psychology, 29, 276–285. Taylor, M., Hodges, S. D., & Kohányi, A. (2002). The illusion of independent agency: Do adult fiction writers experience their characters as having minds of their own? Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 22(4), 361–380. Webster-Stratton, C., & Reid, M. J. (2004). Strengthening social and emotional competence in young children—The foundation for early school readiness and success. Infants and Young Children, 17, 96–113. Wellman, H. M., & Estes, D. (1986). Early understanding of mental entities: A reexamination of childhood realism. Child Development, 57, 910–923. Williams, B. R., Ponesse, J. S., Schachar, R. J., Logan, G. D., & Tannock, R. (1999). Development of inhibitory control across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 35, 205–213. Woolley, J. D., Boerger, E. A., & Markman, A. B. (2004). A visit from the Candy Witch: Factors influencing young children’s belief in a novel fantastical being. Developmental Science, 7, 456–468. Woolley, J. D., & Wellman, H. M. (1990). Young children’s understanding of realities, nonrealities, and appearances. Child Development, 61, 946–961. Youngblade, L. M., & Dunn, J. (1995). Individual differences in young children’s pretend play with mother and siblings: Links to relationships and understanding of other people’s feeling and beliefs. Child Development, 66, 1472–1492.

Suggest Documents