Fostering playfulness in 2-to-6-year-old children: a longitudinal study of parental play support profiles and their effects on children’s playfulness

Parental play support is crucial to children’s playfulness. Using a person-centered approach, we identified profiles of parental play support based on self-assessed roles. In total, 447 mothers and fathers reported their roles—co-player, playleader, director, uninvolved, or onlooker—during their child’s play. These roles were assessed at two time points, spaced two years apart. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct profiles: (1) engaged play support, (2) versatile play support, and (3) non-interfering play support. Parental affiliation to one of the three profiles was very stable over time, with only 14% of parents transitioning between profiles. Our longitudinal analysis indicated that the engaged play support profile, in which parents are closely involved in their child’s play either by playing with the child or observing children’s play, was significantly related to children’s playfulness two years later. Notably, 28.4% of parents fell into this profile. These findings underscore the importance of active parental engagement in fostering children’s playfulness.