“Let’s Play Chase!”: Psychological Characteristics of Older Preschool Children with High Involvement in Rough-and-Tumble Play

Background. Rough-and-tumble play, which includes elements of fight and pseudo-aggression, is an important element of the play behaviour in preschool children. This type of play appears at an early age and is observed not only in humans in different cultures, but also in animals, thus having an evolutionary and adaptive significance. Assessing the relationship between the degree of involvement in rough-and-tumble play and the individual characteristics of children is an urgent task from both practical and scientific points of view. Objective. The aim of the study was to identify the psychological characteristics of older preschool children, who are often involved in rough-and-tumble play. It was hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between the degree of involvement in this type of play and the level of development of executive functions and social competence. The connections with other key lines of development, such as speech, emotional understanding, and sociometric status were additionally analyzed. Study Participants. The study involves 36 preschoolers (20 of them are boys) aged 5–6 years (M = 70.36 months, SD = 3,6), attending kindergartens in Moscow. Methods. The study included an individual evaluation of the regulatory functions, speech, and understanding of emotions. The sociometric status of the children and their social competence were also assessed. Next, the children participated in collective pretend play. The videorecords were used to determine the degree of involvement in rough-and-tumble play. Results. Regardless of gender, outsider children involve in rough-and-tumble play significantly more often and for a longer time than children with an average sociometric status. At the same time, popular children and outsiders are equally often involved in this game. The frequency of involvement significantly negatively correlates with the indicator of speech development. The worse the macrostructure of a child’s narrative, the more often he/she enters into a rough-and-tumble play. At the same time, children with a high level of involvement in rough-and-tumble play showed higher abilities to understand emotions. Conclusions. Frequent and prolonged participation in rough-and-tumble play may be a signal of difficulties associated with a lag in speech development and difficulties in building interpersonal relationships with peers. At the same time, more developed abilities to understand emotions can serve as a resource in correction process.