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SKIPing Together: A Motor Competence Intervention Promotes Gender-Integrated Friendships for Young Children

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Abstract

Young children typically report primarily same-gender friendships across childhood. However, there is growing awareness of the benefits of gender-integrated friendships and gender integration in schools, especially for social-emotional domains. The current study tested whether Successful Kinesthetic Instruction for Preschoolers (SKIP), an evidence-based motor competence intervention led by physical education teachers, promotes gender-integrated friendships in preschool-aged children. Results documented that children (Mage = 47.38, SD = 6.21 months, range = 36.67–60.25 months) assigned to the SKIP condition (n = 56) as compared to a control free-play condition (n = 37) showed higher motor skill competence and were more likely to report gender-integrated friendships post intervention. Growth in girls’ reports of gender-integrated friendships, in particular, drove the intervention effect on gender-integrated friendships. These findings highlight one example of how motor competence interventions can also result in benefits in social-emotional domains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7650, 628C Poe Hall, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Kelly Lynn Mulvey

  2. Department of Physical Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Sally Taunton Miedema, Alexandra Stribing, Emily Gilbert & Ali Brian

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  1. Kelly Lynn Mulvey
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  2. Sally Taunton Miedema
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Correspondence to Kelly Lynn Mulvey.

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This research was conducted with IRB approval from the University of South Carolina and all participants assented to participant and had signed parental consent.

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Mulvey, K.L., Miedema, S.T., Stribing, A. et al. SKIPing Together: A Motor Competence Intervention Promotes Gender-Integrated Friendships for Young Children. Sex Roles 82, 550–557 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01079-z

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