e. Another reason is that girls find it difficult to influence boys. An example of such reasoning is supported by a study done by Poulishta (1987). Preschool aged boy- girl pairs were observed competing for an object. The children were given a chance to use a movie-viewer that could only be used by one child at a time. It seemed while pairs were alone in the playroom the boys dominated the movie- viewer. When an adult was present, however, this did not occur, The adult's presence seemed to inhibit the boy's more power assertive techniques resulting in equal access. This supports the reason why the attraction to same sex partners and avoidance of other sex partners in childhood are so strong and also why girls may also stay nearer to an adult while in a mixed pair. Black (1989) conducted a study to distinguish between representational and social pretend play behaviours that are a function of the sex and age of the players. Black (1989), hypothesised that social skills differ by sex whereas representational skills differ by age, and the skills related to choice of play topics are related to age and sex. This study videotaped 52 preschoolers and later analyzed the videotapes to test hypotheses. Upon analysis, the hypotheses, was confirmed. Social skills were found to differ as a function of sex. Props were given to the children to use in their pretend play. It was found that older girls and younger boys play themes were more likely connected to the props than the older boys. The older boys preferred more creative topics. Another sex difference was that girls used more conversation for planning than boys did. This may have caused less misinterpretations for the play among the girls. Finally, it was found that boys were much more likely to engage in solitary play that girls. A second study investigated the relationship between sex role flexibility and prosocial behaviour among preschool children (Doescher, & Sugawara, 1990). Prosocial behavi...
