Parent‐child pretend play behaviours and symptoms of depression in school‐referred children

Sheehan, Catherine, Hashmi, Salim, Shelton, Katherine H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1311-5291 and Paine, Amy L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9025-3719 2026. Parent‐child pretend play behaviours and symptoms of depression in school‐referred children. Social Development 35 (3) , e70063. 10.1111/sode.70063

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Abstract

Pretend play is important for children's social and emotional development yet significant gaps in knowledge remain. Parent‐child pretend play of school‐aged children is largely overlooked, despite the key role parents play for children of this age. Furthermore, children's experiences of mental health difficulties, such as symptoms of depression, are rarely considered in relation to pretend play. More research is required to identify specific pretend play behaviours that are associated with mental health in children. We conducted observational coding of enacting, negotiating, and storytelling behaviours in parent‐child pretend play. Our sample included 107 children, school‐referred for emotional, cognitive, and/or behavioural difficulties (M = 78.30 months, SD = 11.80; range 52–98 months; 70.1% male, 29.9% female) and their parents. We examined the correlates of children's pretend play behaviours and investigated associations with children's symptoms of depression. We found that parent‐child pretend play behaviours were correlated with each other and that child depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with total pretence. However, when controlling for child gender, age, receptive language, and parent propensity to engage in negotiating behaviours, a hierarchical regression showed that children's symptoms of depression predicted less engagement in children's negotiating behaviours. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of taking nuanced approaches to investigating pretend play and its correlates, and how future work should consider that some pretend play behaviours may present differently according to child mental health, even at subclinical levels.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0961-205X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 May 2026
Date of Acceptance:	27 March 2026
Last Modified:	06 May 2026 12:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186826

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