Young Children’s Self-Perceived Playfulness: The Relationship with Teacher Assessments and Children’s Executive Functions

This study investigates young children’s self-perceived playfulness and explores the association with playfulness as assessed by teachers and the children’s executive functions. A sample of 183 preschoolers from childcare centers in the metropolitan area was selected purposively for one-on-one assessments to measure the children’s perceived playfulness and executive functions. Teachers were also asked to evaluate the playfulness of the children. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and partial correlation analysis were conducted on the collected data. The results indicated that children generally perceived themselves as highly playful, and this perception was partially correlated with the teachers’ evaluations. No gender differences were found in the children’s self-perceived playfulness, but there were significant age-related differences within the groups. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the children’s self-perceived playfulness and their executive functions. The findings suggest that children’s self-perceptions of their playfulness are related to both teachers’ assessments and their own executive functioning, thereby generalizing the tendencies observed in previous research where playfulness was assessed by adults such as teachers or parents.