Participants
The participants were 320 children (N=320) composed of 143 boys and 177 girls. The children 's ages ranged from 8 to 12 years (X = 10.25 years, SD =1.03). The children were enrolled in Grades 4 (n=95), 5 (n=103), and 6 (n=122). Participants were recruited from 9 different schools in Ottawa, a mid-sized city in south-eastern Ontario, Canada, and its surrounding areas. Informed consent was obtained from the parents using information letters and consent forms sent home with the children (the participation rate was 50.39%). The majority of the sample were Caucasian (61.25%) followed by Black (23.44%), Hispanic (10.31%), and Asian (5.00%) children. The school board did not allow the collection of parental employment status or income. Nonetheless, …show more content…
The observers were instructed to report which social participation behaviour, using a code, was most frequent during each time sample. Raw frequencies for each code were proportionalized by dividing them by the total number of scans for each child. Notably, parallel play and teacher interaction were reported less than 0.5% of the time. Few children were seen displaying either of these behaviours across all reports. Accordingly, these variables were not included in subsequent