Measuring Symbolic Play Style in Infancy: A Methodological Approach

Researchers have examined symbolic play style as a qualitative variable distinguishing two groups of children: patterners and dramatists. We have conceptualized style not as a typology of children but as reflecting dimensions of difference between children which are amenable to quantitative analysis. For the construct of style to be invoked, it must be measurable by many variables, it must be observable over time, and it ought to be demonstrably independent of general developmental level. Fifteen boys and 15 girls were each seen twice, once at 21 months of age and again 6 weeks later. The Session 2 pattern of correlations among hypothesized dramatist measures was not entirely consistent with that observed at Session 1; however, three measures, narrative vocalizations, spontaneous play, and elicited-appropriate play were primary dramatist measures at both sessions.