Content and structure in toddlers’ social competence with peers from 12 to 36 months of age

The present study examines both the structure and the content of peer social interaction during the second and third years of life. Three dimensions of children's social behavior were considered: imitative interactions, complementary interactions and conventional social games. The aim was to analyse age‐related changes occurring in the frequency, quality and variety of both imitative/ complementary interactions and social games over an extended age range. Twenty children, equally distributed in five age groups (12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months of age) participated in the study. Ten dyads of familiar same‐aged peers were formed and observed during dyadic play sessions (2 for each dyad) videotaped inside the day‐care centre in which all the children were enrolled. The results support earlier suggestions that imitative relations are gradually replaced by complementary relations toward the end of the second year of life. In the third year of life the most consistent developmental trend was an increase in the number of game episodes whereas imitative sequences declined. When role relations inside social games are considered, games with only imitative roles were found to be less frequent, during the second and the third years of life, than games with only complementary roles or with both complementary and imitative roles. Finally, the content analysis of game episodes and the observed incidence of inter‐dyad differences in number/variety of games suggest we reconsider the significance of familiarity or preferential relationships among peers.