How Do You Play? A Comparison among Children Aged 4-10

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Pretend play is crucial for child development and psychological well-being.
• Existing measures for assessing play in children lack standardization and validity.
• There is a need for tools to evaluate cognitive and affective processes during play.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare play abilities between genders and age groups (preschool vs. primary school).
• To correlate pretend play skills with divergent thinking abilities.
• To evaluate the structural validity of the Affect in Play Scale-Preschool and its Extended Version.

Main Methods:

• Administered a 5-minute standardized play task to 538 Italian children aged 4-10.
• Used correlational analysis with the Alternate Uses Test for external validity.
• Employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis and multi-group factor analysis for construct validity.

Main Results:

• School-aged children demonstrated higher play abilities than preschoolers; no significant gender differences were observed, except for Organization.
• Correlational analyses supported the external validity of the play scales.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis confirmed a two-factor model (cognitive and affective) for both scale versions.

Conclusions:

• The Affect in Play Scale-Preschool and its Extended Version are valid and reliable tools for assessing cognitive and affective skills in children aged 4-10.
• These scales offer a unique, standardized method to evaluate children's play abilities across a significant developmental span.
• Findings support the use of these scales in clinical and research settings to understand the interplay of cognitive and affective development through play.