Some studies found no sex differences whereas others reported differences that were either congruent or not with gender stereotypes. Discrepancies between studies undoubtedly feed the continuing debate. One of the many, and perhaps most striking, paradoxes of gender studies is that, despite decades of concerted efforts, the very existence of sex differences remains debated –. Human sex differences are a perennially hot topic that not only grips the public interest, but that has triggered a great deal of scientific focus from biological to social sciences. A better understanding of the dynamics of sex differences in typical social development should also provide insights into atypical social developments which exhibit sex differences in prevalence, such as autism. This developmental perspective contributes to resolve apparent discrepancies between single-snapshot studies. Nevertheless, while boys catch up and girls move on towards more complex play, sex differences in social play patterns are reversed in favor of boys at the following ages, such as in associative play at 4–5 years and cooperative play at 5–6 years. Preschool boys also display more solitary play than preschool girls, especially when young. Social and structured forms of play emerge systematically earlier in girls than in boys leading to subsequent sex differences in favor of girls at some ages, successively in associative play at 3–4 years, cooperative play at 4–5 years, and social interactions with peers at 5–6 years. We showed that sex differences are not stable over time evidencing a developmental gap between girls and boys.
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Following a cross-sectional design, 164 children aged from 2 to 6 years old, divided into four age groups, were observed during outdoor free play at nursery school. As play provides an excellent window into children's social development, we investigated whether and how sex differences change in social play across early childhood. Moreover, the magnitude, consistency and stability across time of the differences remain an open question, especially during childhood.
However, despite an extensive literature, the very existence of sex differences remains a matter of discussion while some studies found no sex differences whereas others reported differences that were either congruent or not with gender stereotypes.
Females are usually assumed to be more socially oriented and skilful than males. Sex differences in human social behaviors and abilities have long been a question of public and scientific interest. Finally, interactions with peers (Int) significantly increased between 3–4 and 5–6 years. Cooperative play (Cop) significantly increased from 4–5 years to 5–6 years, representing almost half of the children's activities at the end of the preschool period. On the other hand, associative play (Aso) increased significantly between 2–3 and 4–5 years becoming twice as much frequent in 4–5 year-olds than in 2–3 year-olds, but it decreased significantly thereafter. Solitary (Sol) and parallel play (Par) showed a similar developmental course with an abrupt decrease between 3–4 and 4–5 years. Onlooker behaviour (Onl) which was not frequent whatever age group decreased significantly at the end of the preschool years. Children spent also less and less time unoccupied (Uno) with a significant decrease at the beginning and the end of the preschool period. More precisely, interactions with adults (Adu) showed a significant decrease from 2–3 to 4–5 years, becoming rare in the two oldest age groups.
A main age effect was found for all the categories. Age effect on the percentages of children's playtime allocation among social play categories ( F and P- values for variances analyses and P-values for Fisher's PLSD post-hoc comparisons among age groups). Table S2: Developmental trends in social participation over the preschool period.