The Relationship between Role-play and Self-regulation: Review of the Literature and Future Directions

Pretend play is thought to contribute to various aspects of child development. Self-regulation is one of these aspects. As interest in executive function, a concept related to self-regulation has increased, several recent studies have examined the relationship between pretend play, especially role-play, and self-regulation. However, previous methods vary from study to study, making it difficult to interpret them in an integrated manner. Therefore, we reviewed extant literature, focusing mainly on the research methods. We consider two approaches presented in previous studies: (1) examining the relationship between the frequency or quality of pretend play and self-regulation during pretend play, and (2) investigating how pretend play is related to self-regulation beyond this context. In addition, we also reviewed previous studies regarding the relationship between pretend play and executive function, which is the cognitive basis of self-regulation. In future studies, researchers will be able to understand precisely how children learn to control themselves through pretend play by interpreting what is known about these two approaches in the context of findings on the relationship between pretend play and executive function