The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional relationship between the allotment of play space, amount of play materials, and the positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in a group care setting. A study employing a repeated measures, multielement baseline design (Sidman, 1960) was undertaken to examine these relationships. / Five subjects were allowed to play in six treatment conditions consisting of two different spatial densities (35 and 20 square feet per child) and three different play materials densities. The positive and negative social behaviors of the subjects were recorded during 36, randomly assigned, sessions of the 36 treatment conditions. / The major findings were as follows: (1) One subject out of five exhibited increased negative social behavior as a function of decreased spatial density. (2) Increased play materials density offset negative social behavior for all five subjects in the high spatial density (20 square feet) conditions. (3) In both the 35 and the 20 square feet density condition, the "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1 supported more positive social behavior for all five subjects. (4) Treatment condition 1 (Optimal Space, 35 square feet and "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1) was the environment that supported the most positive social behavior for four of the five subjects. / Based on these findings, the following conclusions can be made: (1) Spatial density can affect the social behavior of some toddlers in group care settings. (2) A strong functional relationship exists between play materials density and the occurrence of positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. (3) Play materials density has a greater effect than spatial density on the negative and positive social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-12, Section: A, page: 4284. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75986 |
| Contributors | PHELPS, PAMELA C., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 176 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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