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How do preschoolers play with their parents and grandparents?

‘Mum, you are the best!’ or ‘that’s more fun with grandma’ can be frequent statements from preschoolers. So far, it has not been investigated whether child affect and child behavior differ when they are playing or performing tasks with their mother or grandmother.

We are conducting a study about differences in play behavior and affect of 5-year-old children (between 5.5 years and their 6th birthday) with their parents and grandparents. We would like to investigate how preschoolers behave in different playing situations with different caregivers. Moreover, we are interested in potential generation differences in caregiver behavior – hence whether grandmothers behave differently than mothers.

For participation, children take part in two appointments from their homes via an online-videochat programme (‘Zoom’). Each child will take part once with their mother and once with their grandmother. Each appointment lasts about one hour. During the appointment, the child and their caregiver will take part in three different activities: joint playing, brainteasers for the child and an activity with a joined goal. Appointments will be recorded, and videos handled according to data privacy regulations. We will take parcels with toys to the participating families beforehand.

As a thank you, children receive a little present for each appointment and a certificate for participation.

If you are interested in taking part in this study or have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Johanna Schoppmann

0234 32 19058
Johanna.schoppmann@rub.de

AE Entwicklungspsychologie

Ruhr – Universität Bochum

IB 5/125