Seven core qualities of good vs. bad play? A principal component analysis of 504 children’s play memories and development of a Play Qualities Inventory

Introduction This study presents two factor structures suggesting that the qualities and features that children ascribe to subjectively good and bad play situations can be broken down to a relatively low number of central factors. Attempts to model or quantify play have often focused on behaviors, developmental abilities, and pedagogical functions, rather than situational characteristics seen from the child’s perspective. Qualitative studies focused on children’s experiences, on the other hand, often fail to draw patterns across large numbers of children and situations. Methods 504 primary school students were recalled a recent good or bad play situation, and were asked to match these with short sample statements detailing similar experiences previously collected using episodic interviews with 104 individuals in the age group. Custers of related situational features were then extracted using principal component analysis (PCA). Results Clusters consisting of 22 and 7 unique dimensions were identified in the dataset. While some emerging qualities of play like ‘being silly’ or ‘keeping boundaries’ appear uniquely related to discrete activities and preferences, more general factors including ‘social unity’, having ‘a role to play’, being ‘allowed in’, and feeling equipped to participate ‘well enough’, emerge as highly stable dimensions defining good or bad play experiences for children across grades, schools and types of play. Discussion and practical application: Findings were combined to propose a seven-dimensional ‘Play Qualities Inventory’ (PQI) for self-report by children ages five to eleven, while the broader backdrop of smaller unique factors provide a new and grounded understanding for discussing the multidimensionality of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ play as seen through the eyes of children.