Children use imaginary aggression to deal with bad peers

Cambridge: Children are more likely to introduce violent themes into their pretend play, such as imaginary fighting or killing if they are with playmates whom peers consider bad-tempered, new research suggests.

Academics believe that the tendency for children to introduce aggressive themes in these situations – which seems to happen whether or not they are personally easy to anger – maybe because they are ‘rehearsing’ strategies to cope with hot-headed friends. The research is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

The finding comes from an observational study of more than 100 children at a school in China, who were asked to play with toys in pairs. Children whose play partners were considered bad-tempered by their peers were 45 per cent more likely to introduce aggressive themes into their pretend play than those whose partners were reckoned to be better at controlling their temper.

Importantly, however, a child’s own temperament did not predict the level of make-believe aggression. Instead, children often appeared to introduce these themes specifically in response to having an irritable playmate.

This may mean that in certain cases aggressive make-believe play actually helps children’s social and emotional development. The paper’s authors stress, however, that further research will be needed before they can provide definitive guidance for parents or practitioners.