The relationship between socioeconomic status and levels of pretend play

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and pretend play, while also looking at differences in pretend play in different socioeconomic populations and settings. Children at a Head Start program and at a middle-class private-pay early childcare center were observed in an unstructured and non-facilitated free play session. A mixed-model 2 X 2 ANOVA shows that there is not a significant difference in highest level of play between Head Start and the private-pay childcare center and there was no overall difference in the highest level of play from fall to spring; however, results suggest that children in the Head Start program showed greater gains than children in the middle-class private-pay early childcare center whose levels of play dropped. Individual case analysis revealed that the results from the Head Start program were affected by a large increase in highest level of play in one child as well as the smaller gains made by other children in the Head Start program. The data were analyzed including this child; however, regardless of this child's inclusion in the data analysis, the direction of change in levels of play remained the same.