An exploration of adult playfulness in relationship to personality: A correlational study

Children's play behaviors have been studied in considerable depth, but a growing body of literature is now examining the value of playfulness in adults. The goal of this research was to provide evidence regarding possible relationships between personality traits and adult playfulness. The hypotheses of this research were that there would be positive relationships between playfulness and extraversion, and between playfulness and openness. A negative relationship was expected between playfulness and neuroticism, and no relationship was expected between agreeableness or conscientiousness when correlated with playfulness. Participants (N = 209) completed an online survey. Participant ages ranged from 25-65, were predominantly female (n = 146), white (n = 161), and lived in California (n = 111). Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to identify possible relationships between degrees of playfulness and personality traits using the Playfulness Scale for Adults (PSA), the Adult Playfulness Scale (APS), and the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). A backward multiple regression was calculated to determine if an adult's degree of playfulness could be predicted based on his or her personality traits or demographic data, and to eliminate variables that were not the best predictors of playfulness. Findings revealed negative correlations between adult playfulness and neuroticism, conscientiousness, age, and male gender. Positive correlations were found between adult playfulness and extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. Finding revealed the best predictors of adult playfulness as measured by the APS are extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, and gender. The best predictors as measured by the PSA are extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, age, and neuroticism. Understanding the relationship between personality and playfulness may give us useful information about which aspects of our personality may be positively or negatively related to our degree of playfulness. This is a first step in helping therapists maximize the positive effects associated with adult playfulness in a therapeutic context.