The Relationship between Risky Play and Social Competencies: A scoping review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Project Description Title: The Relationship Between Risky Play and Social Competencies in Early Childhood: A Scoping Review Overview: This research project aims to systematically map and synthesize the existing evidence on the relationship between risky play and social competencies in early childhood. Risky play-defined as thrilling and exciting play that involves a risk of physical injury-includes activities such as play at great heights, high speeds, with dangerous tools, near dangerous elements, rough-and-tumble play, and play where children can disappear or get lost. While the developmental benefits of play are widely acknowledged, opportunities for risky play have declined due to heightened parental concerns and risk-averse societal attitudes. This reduction is notable given emerging evidence that risky play may foster key social competencies such as cooperation, communication, emotional regulation, and perspective-taking, all of which are crucial for school readiness and long-term success. Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review is to address the current gap in empirical research linking risky play to social competence in early childhood, with particular attention to the Canadian context. By mapping the available evidence, the review seeks to inform educational practice and policy, supporting environments that balance safety with opportunities for developmental growth. Objectives: Identify and evaluate studies examining the relationship between risky play and social competence in children aged 2–12 years. Highlight research gaps and provide recommendations for practice and policy. Methods: The review will include empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods) focusing on children aged 2–12 years and measuring social competence outcomes related to risky play. Studies must be peer-reviewed and published in English. Exclusion criteria include studies not addressing social skills, those outside the specified age range, or those not specifically focused on risky play. A comprehensive search will be conducted in Education Source, Web of Science, and Psych Info. The study selection process will involve independent screening by two reviewers, with discrepancies resolved through discussion. Data will be extracted using a standardized form and synthesized narratively, with meta-analysis considered if data are sufficiently homogeneous. Expected Outcomes: A comprehensive synthesis of the literature on how risky play influences social competencies in early childhood. Identification of gaps in the current evidence base. Actionable recommendations for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders to support balanced approaches to play in early childhood settings.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.012 | 0.060 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.004 | 0.005 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.021 | 0.019 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.004 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".