Introduction to Rough-and-Tumble Play
Rough-and-tumble play (R&T) refers to physically vigorous behaviors such as wrestling, chasing, pushing, and so on, that are primarily playful, not aggressive. R&T is observed in most mammals and accounts for about 10% of their time and energy resources (Bjorklund and Pelligrini 2002). In humans, it emerges around 3 years of age and has been documented in every culture in which it has been studied (Byrd-Craven and Geary 2007). The development of R&T play follows an inverted U-shaped pattern, with R&T frequency peaking at roughly 8–10 years of age (Pelligrini and Smith 1998), and then declining in frequency at puberty. It has generally been assumed to have a function, and several functional hypotheses have been proposed to explain R&T. Broadly, functional hypotheses may be distinguished by whether they hold that the functional (survival or reproductive) benefits of R&T are immediate or delayed.
Sex Differences in Play
Robust sex differences are...
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Coome, L. (2018). Boys’ Rough-and-Tumble Play. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_667-1
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