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Opportunities for free play and young children's autonomic regulation

Tracy R Gleason1, Mary S Tarsha2, Angela M Kurth3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA.

Developmental Psychobiology
|July 1, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Social free play opportunities positively influence children's autonomic regulation, supporting parasympathetic activity. However, play frequency did not significantly impact immediate stress responses in five-year-olds.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Child Physiology

Background:

  • Social environments influence behavioral self-regulation and physiological mechanisms.
  • Play, including emotional regulation and delayed gratification, supports healthy adaptation.
  • Childhood free play opportunities may be declining, necessitating research into its benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between social free play and children's autonomic regulation.
  • To determine if peer social free play predicts respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in five-year-olds.

Main Methods:

  • Mothers reported on their children's social free play frequency.
  • Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured in 78 five-year-old children.
  • Autonomic regulation was assessed during baseline and stress conditions.

Main Results:

  • Higher frequency of social free play predicted greater RSA functioning at baseline and during stress.
  • Social free play did not significantly predict the physiological change between conditions.
  • Findings suggest play supports general parasympathetic activation, not immediate stress response modulation.

Conclusions:

  • Frequent social free play may enhance overall autonomic regulation in young children.
  • Play's role in supporting parasympathetic activity warrants further attention.
  • Declining free play necessitates understanding its impact on child development and well-being.

Keywords:
autonomic regulationearly childhoodfree playrespiratory sinus arrhythmiavagal tone

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