The Role of Rough and Tumble in Children's Social and Gender Role Development

This presentation focuses upon the developmental role of Rough and Tumble (R&T) play, with particular attention to the narratives that children use to underpin such activities, and to gender differences within these. The underpinning literature covers a range of theoretical fields including bio-evolutionary theories of developmental gender difference and qualitative analyses of children’s play narratives. The empirical research undertaken focussed upon the R&T play of a mixed-gender cohort of children attending a suburban primary school in Northern England. The children’s playground based free play was ethnographically observed over a period of eighteen months. The major findings of the investigation were that narratives underpinning R&T play were socially complex and highly gendered, particularly with regard to mixed gender play. Boys appeared to use R&T for friendship construction within single gender groups, while girls appeared to use R&T play principally to draw boys into mixed gender chasing activities