This study examines the extent to which children’s connectedness is influenced by interaction context and friendship status. Research findings show that although friends engaged in similar rates of connected talk across two contexts, non-friends engaged in more connected talk during goal-directed drawing when compared to free-play. It is therefore important to focus on both context and dyad features for understanding children’s peer communication.
Connected communication is important for social coordination. While many children will sit side-by-side using the same toys, connectedness describes moments when they are actively coordinating their play together. Previous research by the PEDAL team has indicated that whether children connect during play has less to do with their individual socio-cognitive abilities than might be expected. The new study investigated this further, using data from the same group of children gathered in five different UK schools.
Journal article
Read the paper published in the journal Infant and Child Development.
Summary article
Read this summary article about the study about communication with friends and non-friend peers.