Susie's Imaginary Friend vs. Tommy's Imagined Persona

The idea that gender may play a role in the types of imaginary play, poses an interesting question regarding why this may be the case. Although there isn't an overwhelming sense of consistency regarding the differences in boys and girls role play preferences, according to Alison Shawber there is a degree of difference in that girls tend to imagine an imaginary companion or companions, where as boys more often tend to have pretend identities. There may be several reasons for this difference including a possible need girls feel to nurture, the differences in how boys and girls are spoken to by their parents, or even the fact that at about the same age children are inventing or embodying these characters is at approximately the same time children begin to acknowledge more concretely the types of roles boys/men and girls/women preform which may encourage more quiet make-believe play from girls and louder, rougher play from boys, or the fact that boys may want to emulate a strong individual.
Although people may believe "girls have an innate need to nurture" that is in fact not entirely the case. Young girls are instead bombarded by images of nurturing, endlessly caring, and attentive women who form the mental picture of what it is to be a woman and because of this I find it very difficult to believe that girls are more likely to have imaginary companions than boys.
One difference that has been seen in children and their interactions with their parents is the different styles of communication that parents utilize when speaking to their children. Mothers tend to speak more frequently and with more elaboration when speaking to their daughters which could help to cultivate the level of imagination required to invent another entire individual; where as mothers tend to be more direct and concise with their sons which could require them to rely on outside stimulation, such as cartoons, to help them create their role play characters.
This is also the time in children's lives that they begin to more completely grasp that in frequent situations the expectations of them differ greatly. This difference is most often seen in the fact that girls are expected to "act like a lady" or "not get dirty" where as boys are told "go outside and play" and are less frequently punished for getting dirty or being overly loud. This may be one of the causes of role play differences because boys tend to embody loud and active pretend identities and girls may not be given the freedom to embody such boisterous characters.
Another possible explanation for this difference in tendency is that boys may be groomed to want to emulate a strong individual, I personally think that this is the most likely explanation for any difference that can be found within the imaginary play preferences in girls and boys. Due to the fact that our society constantly tells men of all ages that in order to thrive they must be strong and independent it seems only necessary that to achieve this mentality as young men and adults we must begin teaching boys these subtle mental pictures early. In looking at the examples given in the lecture of Spiderman and Batman we observe two superheros who are strong, secretive, brave, unemotional, and very autonomous, characteristics which we find valuable and societaly superior.
I am by no means attempting to say that these circumstances are universal or the causes of these differences I just think that these are factors which could influence the difference and should possibly more carefully looked at. Although, as I previously mentioned, there is not statistically significant evidence that these differences are overly prevalent among young children it seems that as our society continues to progress and these stereotypes of men and women become more ingrained these differences may continue to become more visible and more statistically predictable when examining role play behavior in children.