Typically Developing Children
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: Experimental group of preschool-aged children.
Children in the experimental group will participate in a 10-week rough and tumble play-based intervention, consisting of two 45-minute sessions
Sponsors
University of Évora
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
No minimum to 7 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: To be enrolled in a regular preschool and placed in a class led by an educator with more than five years of professional experience.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Presence of any medical or developmental condition that may prevent the child from participating in the assessments and/or the intervention.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Primary outcomes of this study will be the following: -Self-regulation, assessed through: oExternalizing behaviors, assessed through the externalizing behaviors subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) [1,2], completed by parents using a 3-point Likert scale. Parents will rate the frequency of their child's behaviors over the past three months. A higher classification reflects a higher prevalence of externalizing problems. oEmotion Expression, assessed through the Emotion Expression Questionnaire [3], a questionnaire where parents will score on a 5-point scale the frequency, intensity, and duration of their child’s expressions of negative and positive emotions. A higher classification reflects greater emotional expressiveness. oAggressiveness, assessed through the Aggressiveness Questionnaire [4], where parents and educators will rate the frequency of the child’s aggressive behaviors using a 5-point Likert scale. A higher classification reflects a higher level of aggressiveness. oInhibitory control, assessed through: ?Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task [5,6], comprised of three sections, each requiring the child to respond with the opposite action to the instruction given (e.g., if told to touch their feet, they should touch their head instead). Each section includes 10 trials, and responses will be scored as 0 (incorrect), 1 (self-corrected), or 2 (correct). The final score will be the sum of all responses, ranging from 0 to 60. A higher classification reflects a better inhibitory control. ?Day and Night task [7], comprised of 16 cards, showing a sun and a moon and stars, each requiring the child to respond with the opposite word to the instruction given (e.g., with a card with a moon and stars, they should say “day”; with a card with a sun, they must say “night”). The number of “day” and “night” cards will be equal, and the cards will be presented in a random order. One point will be assigned to each correct answer, totaling a maximum of 16 poin | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Secondary Outcomes - Moral Emotions – Assessed through the Moral Emotions Questionnaire (MEQ) [14,15], which consists of 17 items aiming to assess the presence of shame, guilt, and pride behaviors in early childhood. Parents will be asked to rate the degree to which each item represented their child's behavior in the past two months on a 3-point scale. A higher score indicate a higher frequency and intensity that their child experienced for each emotion. - Play Behaviors with parents- Assessed through the ’Père-En-Jeux’ (Father in Play) questionnaire [16,17], which analyses the engagement in child - mother/ father Rough-and-Tumble play (RTP) at home, focusing on frequency, duration, dominance and emotional display, rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Both fathers and mothers will be asked to fill out the ’Père-En-Jeux’ questionnaire. Higher scores indicate a greater tendency of the child to dominate the play interaction, and a higher frequency of negative emotions. All the instruments have been previously adapted to Portuguese (Portugal), showing good psychometric properties [13,14]. [14] da Silva BM, Ketelaar L, Veiga G, Tsou YT, Rieffe C. Moral emotions in early childhood: validation of the Moral Emotions Questionnaire (MEQ). Int J Behav Dev. 2022;46(2):157-68. doi: 10.1177/01650254221075031 [15] Li Z, Li B, Tsou YT, Oosterveld P, Rieffe C. Moral emotions in early childhood: Validation of the Chinese moral emotion questionnaire. Social Development. 2023;32(2):527-545. Doi: 10.1111/sode.12645 [16] Flanders JL, Leo V, Paquette D, Pihl RO, Séguin JR. Rough-and-tumble play and the regulation of aggression: an observational study of father-child play dyads. Aggress Behav. 2009;35(4):285-95. doi: 10.1002/ab.20309. [17] Paquette D, Carbonneau R, Dubeau D, Bigras M, Tremblay RE. Prevalence of father-child rough-and-tumble play and physical aggression in preschool children. Eur J Psychol Educ. 2003;18(2):171-89. doi: 10.1007/BF03173483. | — |
Countries
Portugal
Contacts
Public ContactGuida Veiga
University of Évora - School of Health and Human Development
Outcome results
None listed