The 2012 study by Goldberg, Kashy, and Smith used the Pre-School Activity Inventory (PSAI; Golombok & Rust, 1993) to examine play in a group selected children. This age group has not previously been examined for gender-based gaming behaviors. The data can now be used to distinguish how a child's perceived play changes across development. It was important to examine preschool children so that data could be collected from age groups across the developmental spectrum. Children's play was examined for gender-related qualities through parents' perspectives. Gender-typed play qualities were defined by examining the extent to which behaviors conformed to gender norms. Question Children's play was examined for gender typing to decipher whether there was a correlation between the perception of gender-typed behavior and the family structure present. The researchers were interested in discovering a correlation between a child's play and family composition. They looked at homes with lesbian, gay and heterosexual parents to find out whether parents' sexuality correlated with how they viewed their children's play behavior. This study was the first of its kind conducted in the 2- to 4-year-old age group. The perception of gendered play can be detected as early as 18 months in children. It is very useful to have a study that examines the perception of these behaviors at such an early time. The results of this study can be compared to studies conducted across the life span to compare developmental changes in gender behavior (Goldberg, Kashy, & Smith, 2012). Hypothesis Examining lesbian, gay-male, and heterosexual families who had adopted children two years prior to the study allowed the researchers to discover a correlation between...... middle of paper ......organizing play style of a child. By knowing the likelihood of enforcing or encouraging gendered play, parents can take an active approach in how they view and encourage gendered behaviors in their homes. Weaknesses The main limitation of this study is its reliance only on parent reports. In new studies of this type, children should be observed by an outsider in the home or school environment. In the future this study should be replicated over a larger time span. Observations could be made over a few years for each developmental stage. Because the parents were the only reporters, the data collected came only from information that the parents had recently experienced. Furthermore, the population size was relatively small considering that all participants were divided into family structures and children were considered individually in these structures.