Mother-child synchrony is high across child executive function levels for both physical and digital spatial play

Abstract

Purpose: Play is a powerful influence on children's learning and parents can provide opportunities to learn specific content by scaffolding children's play. Parent-child synchrony (i.e., harmony, reciprocity and responsiveness in interactions) is a component of parent-child interactions that is not well characterized in studies of play.

Procedures: We tested whether children's executive function relates to mother-child synchrony during physical and digital play in sixty mother-child dyads.

Main findings: Mother-child synchrony did not relate to children's executive function or differ by play type (physical, digital), though during digital play mother-child synchrony was higher for girls relative to boys.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that mother-child synchrony is not influenced by children's executive function and physical and digital play can be similarly beneficial in offering the opportunity for responsive, reciprocal, dynamic interactions. The sex difference suggests that further factors should be explored as influences of play synchrony.

Keywords: Digital media; Executive function; Parent-child synchrony; Physical play; Play quality; Spatial play.