Mother-Child Interaction and Imaginative Behavior of Preschool Children

Summary

Forty-two preschool boys and girls and their mothers were observed in play and story-telling interactions. Imaginative behavior by mothers and children were correlated within and across sessions as well as with indexes of the child's divergent thinking ability and spontaneous fantasy play. The results showed that mothers' and childrens' imaginative behavior scores were positively and significantly correlated within each session but not across sessions. Moreover, the child's scores for divergent thinking ability and spontaneous fantasy play at nursery school were not significantly related with either the mother's or the child's imaginative behavior during the interaction sessions. The results pointed to the importance of situational factors in preschoolers' imaginative behavior.