A cross-cultural comparison of pretend play in U.S. and Italian children

Pretend play reflects cognitive, representational, and affective expression abilities in children.Cross-cultural studies stress the importance of culture-specific practices involved in shaping the context for play. Differences in the cultural environment and the parental care-giving system could influence children’s pretend play activities. There is a need for cross-cultural comparisons of play that use the same standardized measure of play. The current study was a cross-cultural comparison of two samples of American and Italian children 6 to 8 years old. All children were administered the Affect in Play Scale. As hypothesized, Italian children had significantly more typesof affect expression in play than children in the United States, showing a medium effect size.Children in the United States had more imagination in their play, although with a small effect size.Implications of these findings are discussed.