The Presence Of Social Pressure And Stop Playing With Toys
The presence of social pressure to stop playing with toys featured most commonly among the
participants. They all specifically mentioned some form of conformity to social norms of 'growing
up' (e.g., R27, 151–152; R33, 238–241; R46, 158–160; R51, 302–304; R57, 108–111; R59, 144–
146). They provided examples of alternative activities that were considered acceptable for adults,
such as hanging out with friends (e.g., R27, 103–104; R59, 72–73), and electronic games (e.g., R46,
158–160; R59, 79–80).
The pressure that participants felt to move on from playing with toys appeared to emerge either
internally, stemming from self–identification as 'grown–up' (e.g., R33, 121–123; R46, 254–255;
R51, 79; R59, 55) or externally, through observation and imitation of peer behaviour (e.g., R46,
124–126; R59, 144–146) In a few instances, participants mentioned being explicitly told by peers
that playing with toys was no longer acceptable (e.g., R27, 188–190; R57, 108–111; R59, 71–72),
although parents were rarely cited as a source of pressure (e.g., R57, 114–115; R59, 140–143).
Participants with siblings highlighted the impact of these siblings on their cessation of play with
toys. Interestingly, participants with younger siblings tended to cite an internal process of social
pressure, where they were driven by a personal desire to appear older:
R27: ... you get to an age where if your sisters are playing with them and they are younger, you don't
really want to play the same things as
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