Analysis of Parent-Child Play Using the Dyadic Parent-Children Interaction Coding System

In this study, we utilized the Dyadic Parent-Children Interaction Coding System (DPICS) to conduct an exploratory analysis of parent-child interaction patterns in play situations. Six mothers and their children (3 boys and 5 girls) participated in this study. DPICS was administered to these parent-child dyads to analyze the occurrence rate and temporal stability of the DPICS categories as well as the interaction pattern characteristics. The results indicated that questions were frequently observed in all DPICS situations, and some DPICS categories had low temporal consistency. Additionally, the mother-child interaction patterns varied depending on the context, with direct commands being more likely to generate positive interactions than indirect commands. Based on these findings, we underscored the need to examine the relationship between DPICS categories and various psychosocial variables in parents and children to effectively apply DPICS in clinical settings.