The effects of interactive peer play and teacher-child relationships on young children's leadership

This study aimed to examine the effects of interactive peer play and teacher-child relationships on young children's leadership. A questionnaire survey assessing interactive peer play, teacher-child relationships, and leadership was conducted with 200 children attending early childhood education institutions in J City. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0, with Pearson's correlation analysis conducted to examine relationships and stepwise regression employed to analyze the effects. First, the analysis revealed significant positive relationships among interactive peer play, teacher-child relationships, and young children's leadership. Second, the analysis of the effects of on young children's leadership revealed that leadership was significantly predicted by interactive peer play, and then teacher-child relationship. Further analysis of subdomains revealed that play interaction a subdomain of peer play and intimacy a subdomain of teacher-child relationships were the strongest predictors of leadership. These findings contribute to both theoretical and practical understandings of young children's leadership development and offer foundational insights for designing teaching-learning methods, program development, and educational policies.