The Influence of Social Context On How Children Report A Story

Do children answer questions differently depending upon the social context in which they are asked?  Mathew et al. (2011) found limited evidence that 3- and 4-year-olds alter their communications according to context:  Children provided more elements of narrative quality in a serious context than in a casual context.  This research extends that work to 5- and 6-year-olds, when children are better with language and more experienced in diverse social contexts.  We predict that children will show more evidence of narrative quality in a serious social context than in a casual context.

Each child [N = 26] viewed a 5-minute cartoon twice and then was questioned.  The interviewer wore a lab coat and asked the child to describe exactly what happened in the Serious condition.  The interviewer held a puppet and asked the child to tell the puppet about the fun cartoon in the Fun condition.  Interviews were divided into propositions, and elements of narrative quality were coded from the propositions: character names; character dialogue; descriptors of actions; and cohesive statements. 

The 5- and 6-year-olds are not answering questions differently depending upon social context: There are no statistically significant differences in the number of propositions (median is 14 and 11 in the Serious and Fun conditions, respectively) or in the number of elements of narrative quality (median is 9 and 8).  

This research will help determine when young children can distinguish between serious and casual social contexts, and when they respond according to the implied criteria for accuracy in these situations.