A COMPARISON OF 8-YEAR-OLD AND 11-YEAR-OLD GIRLS AND BOYS PARTICIPATION IN SPECIFIC TYPES OF ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE PLAY AND AGGRESSIVE FIGHTING - IMPLICATIONS FOR FUNCTIONAL HYPOTHESES

Study 1 compared the extent to which 8 and 11-year-old girls and boys (N = 86) participated in specific types of rough-and-tumble play. It u sed an observational methodology. The data were used to test two promi nent hypotheses about the evolutionary function of this general catego ry of play behaviour that have been applied to children, especially bo ys, of this age. One is that rough-and-tumble play provides practice f or the development of real fighting skills and the other that it serve s as a safe way to establish/display social dominance. Both hypotheses predict that boys mill engage in more rough-and-tumble play than girl s, especially those types that are used in fighting/dominance contests . Boys were found to engage in significantly more chase initiation act ivities, more bouts of brief rough and-tumble play, more bouts of rest raining and more bouts of boxing/hitting than girls. These data provid e some support for the two hypotheses, although significant sex differ ences were not found for all types of rough-and-tumble play observed. No significant age differences were obtained, suggesting that the two hypotheses may be applicable throughout the 8- to 11-year-old period a nd not just at the end of it as previous research had suggested. Study 2 presented observational data concerning the motor patterns used in aggressive fighting. In all but one case, there were no significant di fferences in the extent to which 8/9- and 10/11-year-old girls and boy s employed wrestling, hitting and restraining, supporting the view tha t the practice fighting hypothesis is relevant throughout the 8-11 yea r-old period. It mas argued that age and sex differences provide a use ful means of scrutinising functional hypotheses, and that splitting be havioural categories that contain disparate action patterns facilitate s more refined tests of those hypotheses. (C) 1996 Wiley Liss, Inc.