Parental playfulness and play beliefs in early childhood education: a cross-cultural comparison

This study examined the cross-cultural differences in parental play beliefs (parental play support and parental academic focus) of Hong Kong and English parents with children in kindergarten or early years and Key Stage 1 education settings. It also examined whether parent playfulness predicts parental play beliefs above and beyond demographic factors. Participants were 145 and 150 parents of young children in England and Hong Kong, respectively. Parents reported demographic information (age, education level and income level), their parental play beliefs and playfulness through a questionnaire. The results revealed significant cross-cultural differences in play beliefs between parents in Hong Kong and England. Particularly, parental play support was significantly higher amongst English parents, whilst parental academic focus was significantly higher amongst Hong Kong parents. Hierarchical regression analyses further showed that playfulness was a significant predictor of parental play support in both cultural contexts, over and above demographic variables. These findings add to the body of evidence around cross-cultural comparison of parental play beliefs and also build upon the theoretical perspective that personality traits such as playfulness can predict parental play beliefs.