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The pretend and social role play of children exposed to early severe deprivation
Author(s) -
Kreppner Jana M.,
O'Connor Thomas G.,
Dunn Judy,
AndersenWood Lucie
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1348/026151099165302
Subject(s) - psychology , romanian , social deprivation , developmental psychology , cognition , psychiatry , economics , economic growth , philosophy , linguistics
The present study investigates whether early physical and psychological deprivation has long‐term negative effects on children's pretend play at 4 years of age. A total of 104 Romanian children from institutions adopted into UK families before the age of 2 years, one group adopted between 0 to 6 months and a second group adopted between 6 and 24 months, were compared with 50 within‐country adoptees who were all placed between 0 to 6 months. Children were assessed in a 10‐minute semistructured play session. Analysis for group differences between UK adoptees and the two Romanian adoptee groups indicated a general tendency for the UK adoptees to engage in higher frequencies of pretend play, role play and referencing others’ mental states than Romanian adoptees: they were also more positively engaged with the examiner than were the Romanian adoptees. The group differences remained significant after controlling for general cognitive and verbal ability. The results are discussed in terms of the possible impact of early social and psychological deprivation on social development as reflected in play.