This updated study of sports and recreation utilizes the most current research, introducing the latest innovations and analyses in new chapters while revising and expanding chapters from the previous edition. Presenting diverse methodological and conceptual approaches, this anthology reflects the current view of sports as a "natural laboratory" for ecologically valid research. This collection contains literature reviews, innovative theories and methods, and essays on various psychological and social aspects of sports, games, and organized play.

There are pronounced differences in the play of boys and girls. Why do boys prefer war toys, and girls Barbie dolls? Are video games addictive? What, if anything, do children learn while playing? Toys, Play and Child Development explores these and other questions. Parental attitudes and reactions toward war toys are described, as are the children's views themselves. The book examines how toys and play contribute to the development of language, imagination, and intellectual achievement and how they can effectively be used in child psychotherapy.

There are pronounced differences in the play of boys and girls. Why do boys prefer war toys, and girls Barbie dolls? Are video games addictive? What, if anything, do children learn while playing? Toys, Play and Child Development explores these and other questions. Parental attitudes and reactions toward war toys are described, as are the children's views themselves. The book examines how toys and play contribute to the development of language, imagination, and intellectual achievement and how they can effectively be used in child psychotherapy.