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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Peering into the Dynamics of Social Interactions: Measuring Play Fighting in Rats
Published on: January 18, 2013
Gender, affiliation, assertion, and the interactive context of parent-child play
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz 95064-1077, USA. cam@cats.ucsc.edu
Abstract:
Ninety-eight young U.S. children (mean age = 48 months) with either European, Latin American, or multiple ethnic backgrounds were videotaped with their mothers and their fathers on separate occasions in their families' homes. Parent-child pairs played for 8 min each with a feminine-stereotyped toy set (foods and plates) and a masculine-stereotyped toy set (track and cars). Levels of affiliation (engaging vs. distancing) and assertion (direct vs. nondirect) were rated on 7-point scales every 5 s from the videotapes for both parent and child. Overall, the play activity accounted for a large proportion of the variance in parents' and children's mean affiliation and assertion ratings. Some hypothesized gender-related differences in behavior were also observed. In addition, exploratory analyses revealed some differences between the different ethnic groups. The results highlight the importance of role modeling and activity settings in the socialization and social construction of gender.
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