Preliminary Study of Construct Validity for the Playfulness Assessment Scale in Preschool Children

Abstract

Contemporary researches about children’s play studies playfulness behavior as a personality characteristic. Barnett (1991a) proposed the Children’s Playfulness Scale (CPS) for the assessment of playfulness behavior. The present study examined the construct validity of the Greek version of the CPS. Back to back translation was used. The sample consisted of 200 preschool aged children, who attended kindergarten centers in Thessaloniki. The playfulness behavior of each child was assessed from its teacher, who completed the Greek version of CPS, one for each child. Eight teachers were participated as evaluators. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of the five factors of CPS, which explained 70.58% of the total variance. Cronbach a coefficients for the questionnaire’s subscales were above .84. Correlation coefficients showed medium and high correlations between the factors of CPS. The results of the present study provided initial support for the use of the Greek version of CPS to determine playfulness level of preschool aged children.