Syfte
The study investigates children’s touch culture when interacting with peers in kindergarten.
Resultat
The study indicates that children primarily use touch to control other children, or to show care. Both types of touch play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of smaller groups within the larger group of children. Care touching also plays a central role in friend relationships to maintain intimate social relationships. This applied to both boys and girls. The children both touched and were touched without making an issue out of the touch, and they gave each other access to their entire bodies.
Design
A total of 35 children between one and five years old in a Swedish kindergarten were observed and video recorded over a period of six months. The children were observed both during free play and during planned activities.
Referenser
Ekström, A. & Cekaite, A. (2020). "Children’s touch in a Swedish preschool: touch cultures in peer group interaction". International Journal of Early Years Education, 2020:2-19.