Investigation of the Relationship between Prosocial and Play Behaviors of 60-72 Months-Old Children Attending Preschool Education

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the prosocial behaviours and play behaviours of 60-72-month-old children attending preschool education and the relationship between these behaviours. For this purpose, the research was designed by adopting the correlational survey model. The sample of the study consisted of 300 children aged 60-72 months attending kindergartens in Turkey in the 2021-2022 academic year. "Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale-Teacher Form" and "Preschool Prosocial Behaviour Scale" were used in the study. It was determined that peer play behaviours differed statistically according to the variables of gender, age, parental education level, parental occupation, number of siblings, family income status and previous preschool education. Upon analyzing the prosocial skills of the children participating in the study, it was found that prosocial skills showed a statistically significant difference according to the variables of gender and previous pre-school education, but did not show a statistically significant difference according to the variables of age, parents' education level, parents' occupation, number of siblings and family income status. Another result of the study was that there was a positive relationship between children's prosocial behaviours and play interaction behaviours and a negative relationship between children's play disruptive behaviours.