ALL THE SHEEPS ARE DEAD - HE MURDERED THEM - SIBLING PRETENSE, NEGOTIATION, INTERNAL STATE LANGUAGE, AND RELATIONSHIP QUALITY

Pretend play enactment, negotiation, internal state language, and sibl ing relationship quality were examined in 40 kindergarten-aged childre n with either an older (M age = 7.10 years) or younger (M age = 3.6 ye ars) sibling. Dyads were identified as engaging in frequent (n = 20) o r infrequent (II = 20) pretend play. Results indicated that frequent p retend play dyads engaged in more high-level negotiation, whereas infr equent pretend dyads preferred low-level negotiation strategies. Frequ ent pretend dyads were more likely to use internal state language, esp ecially during high-level negotiation Friendly sibling relationship du ality was negatively related to pretend enactment, whereas conflict wa s negatively associated with internal state language. Discussion focus es on the sibling relationship as a context in which to investigate th e links between aspects of pretend play, sibling relationship quality, and social understanding.