Gender preferences in play companions that lead to happiness: a case study on Indonesian children

ABSTRACT

The study aims at exploring Indonesian children’s preferences in the choice of play companions that lead to their happiness. In total, 381 boys and 396 girls (aged 4–6 years old) participated in the study. We conducted a story-telling test to determine which play companions that lead to children’s happiness and by using content analysis to interpret the qualitative data. The majority of boys and girls nominated their friends as their most preferred play companions. However, when feeling unhappy with their friends, boys tended to turn inward to themselves, χ(1) = 31.447, p = .001, while girls tended to prioritize family as their play companions. A Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that the happiest child is the one who experiences play activity at school with teachers and friends there, χ²(2) = 13.712, p = .008 especially for girls, χ²(2) = 10.869, p = .028. It is necessary to develop a parenting programme to educate parents about the importance of play (particularly with partners) in promoting children’s happiness.

KEYWORDS:

• Happiness
• play companions
• young children
• gender differences
• Indonesian

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Semarang State University in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank  [grant number IND0152, 153, 154].

Notes on contributors

Yuli Kurniawati Sugiyo Pranoto

Yuli Kurniawati Sugiyo Pranoto is a senior lecturer on children development in Department of Early Childhood Teacher Education and Head of Graduate Program of Early Childhood Education at Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia. She has published an article on Indonesian young children happiness.

Jianzhong Hong

Jianzhong Hong is a professor in the School of Psychology at the Central China Normal University, P. R China. He has taught a number of courses on Educational and Developmental Psychology over the years. His research and publication interests include learning outcome, cross culture, and gender studies.