Parent–child play is broadly acknowledged to be a crucial context for child development within the cultural-historical approach. However, the associations between family factors—parental play beliefs, family socio-demographic characteristics, and the parental retrospective childhood experiences—and indicators of parent–child play remain an understudied area. This study aimed to examine associations between these family factors and such parent-reported indicators of parent–child play as the frequency of child’s requests for parent–child play and its duration. The study involved 557 parents (M age = 37.0, SD = 5.3), predominantly mothers (94%), of children attending preparatory preschool groups in Russia (M age = 6.0, SD = 0.3; 46% girls), corresponding to the final year before school entry. Parents completed the Parent Play Beliefs Scale (PPBS) and reported on the frequency of child’s requests for parent–child play, its duration, and their own retrospective childhood experiences. The analysis revealed that parental Play Support was positively associated with the frequency of child’s requests and the duration of parent–child play, while Academic Focus showed no significant relationship with either play indicator. Moreover, parental age and education were indirectly associated with the frequency of the child’s requests through Play Support, which is consistent with indirect-only mediation. The results suggest that the frequency of child’s requests is associated with parental beliefs about the developmental value of play rather than directly with their age or education. Within the exploratory aim of the study, parental retrospective childhood experiences were associated with parental play beliefs: Play Support was negatively associated with frequent moving, whereas Academic Focus was positively associated with an unstructured home environment. The findings may be relevant for educational programs aimed at helping parents recognize the developmental value of play and support parent–child play in everyday family contexts.
Gavrilova et al. (Thu,) studied this question.