Playfulness is normally associated with children and remains poorly documented in adulthood. Studies have confirmed that playfulness is present in adulthood but do not provide any information on its specific nature. An enhanced comprehension of playfulness in adulthood is needed to determine its possible use in occupational therapy intervention with an adult clientele. A qualitative study led to a conceptual definition of playfulness in adulthood. Playfulness can be defined as an internal predisposition characterized by creativity, curiosity, pleasure, sense of humor, and spontaneity. This attitude extends to all life situations and modifies how adults perceive, evaluate, and approach situations. Playfulness enables adults to distance themselves from others, from situations, and from conventions to approach situations with an open mind to find original solutions to problems, to confront difficulties, and to accept failure. Therefore, it may be an important tool in occupational therapy to develop and enhance adults' ability to perform occupations.
AuerhahnN. C.LaubD. (1987). Play and playfulness in Holocaust survivors. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 42(1), 45–58.
2.
BarnettL. A. (1991a). The playful child: Measurement of a disposition to play. Play and Culture, 4, 51–74.
3.
BarnettL. A. (1991b). Characterizing playfulness: Correlates with individual attributes and personality traits. Play and Culture, 4, 371–393.
4.
BishopD. W.ChaceC. A. (1971). Parental conceptual systems, home play environment, and potential creativity in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 12, 318–338.
5.
BowmanJ. R. (1987). Making work play. In FineG. A. (Ed.), Meaningful play, playful meanings (pp. 61–71). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
6.
BozionelosN.BozionelosG. (1997). Psychology of computer use: XLVIII: Relation between playfulness and computer anxiety. Psychological Reports, 81, 956–958.
7.
BozionelosN.BozionelosG. (1999). Playfulness: Its relationship with instrumental and expressive traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 749–760.
8.
BundyA. C. (1993). Assessment of play and leisure: Delineation of the problem. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47, 217–222.
9.
BundyA. C. (1996). Play and playfulness: What to look for. In ParhamD. L.FazioL. S. (Eds.), Play in occupational therapy for children (pp. 52–66). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
10.
BundyA. C.NelsonL.MetzgerM.BingamanK. (2001). Validity and reliability of a Test of Playfulness. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 21, 276–292.
11.
Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (1997). Enabling occupation: An occupational therapy perspective. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: CAOT Publications Ace.
12.
ChandlerB. E. (1997). The essence of play: A child's occupation. Bethesda, MD: American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.
13.
ChapmanJ. A. (1978). Playfulness and the development of divergent thinking abilities. Child: Care, Health and Development, 4, 371–383.
14.
CohenM. (2001). Happiness and humour: A medical perspective. Australian Family Physician, 30(1), 17–19.
15.
DanskyJ. L.SilvermanI. W. (1973). Effects of play on associative fluency in preschool-aged children. Developmental Psychology, 9, 38–43.
16.
DayH. I. (1979). Why people play?Loisir et Société, 2(1), 129–147.
17.
DeweyJ. (1933). How we think (2nd ed.). Boston: Heath.
18.
EllisG. D.WittP. A. (1986). The Leisure Diagnostic Battery: Past, present and future. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 20(1), 31–47.
19.
ÉtienneA. (1982). Le jeu et ses recommencements dans la vie adulte. Le Transfert, 6(3), 4–8.
20.
FerlandF. (1994). Le modèle ludique: Le jeu, l'enfant avec déficience physique et l'ergothérapeute. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal.
21.
FerlandF. (1997). Play, children with physical disabilities and occupational therapy: The ludic model. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: University of Ottawa Press.
22.
FerlandF. (2003). Le modèle ludique: Le jeu, l'enfant avec déficience physique et l'ergothérapeute (3ième ed.). Montréal, Québec, Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal.
23.
GlynnM.WebsterJ. (1992). The adult playfulness scale: An initial assessment. Psychological Reports, 71, 83–103.
24.
GlynnM.WebsterJ. (1993). Refining the nomological net of the Adult Playfulness Scale: Personality, motivational, and attitudinal correlates for highly intelligent adults. Psychological Reports, 72, 1023–1026.
25.
GroosK. (1976). The play of man: Teasing and love-play. In BrunnerJ.JollyA.SylvaK. (Eds.), Play, development and evolution (pp. 62–83). Middlesex, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
26.
HarknessL.BundyA. C. (2001). The Test of Playfulness and children with physical disabilities. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 21, 73–89.
27.
HenriotJ. (1969). Le jeu. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
28.
HuizingaJ. (1972). Homo ludens: Essai sur la fonction sociale du jeu. Paris: Éditions Gallimard.
29.
Iso-AholaS. E.WeissingerE. (1990). Perceptions of boredom in leisure: Conceptualization, reliability and validity of the Leisure Boredom Scale. Journal of Leisure Research, 22, 1–17.
30.
KnoxS. (1996). Play and playfulness in preschool children. In ZemkeR.ClarkF. (Eds.), Occupational science: The evolving discipline (pp. 80–88). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis.
31.
LaperrièreA. (1982). Pour une construction empirique de la théorie: La nouvelle école de Chicago. Sociologie et sociétés, 14, 31–41.
32.
LaperrièreA. (1997). La théorisation ancrée (grounded theory): Démarche analytique et comparaison avec d'autres approches apparentées. In PoupartJ.GroulxL. H.DeslauriersJ.-P.AnneL.MayerR.PiresA. (Eds.), La recherche qualitative: Enjeux épistémologiques et méthodologiques (pp. 309–340). Montréal, Québec, Canada: Gaëtan Morin Éditeur.
33.
LiW.BundyA. C.BeerD. (1995). Taiwanese parental values toward American evaluation of playfulness. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 15, 237–258.
34.
LiebermanN. J. (1965). Playfulness and divergent thinking: An investigation of their relationship at the kindergarten level. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 107, 219–224.
35.
LiebermanN. J. (1977). Playfulness: Its relationship to imagination and creativity. New York: Academic Press.
LyonsM. (1987). A taxonomy of playfulness for use in occupational therapy. Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 34(4), 152–156.
38.
MeadorK. S. (1992). Emerging rainbows: A review of the literature on creativity in preschoolers. Journal of the Education of the Gifted, 15(2), 163–181.
39.
MichelmanS. (1971). The importance of creative play. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 25, 285–290.
40.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
41.
MoranG. S. (1987). Some functions of play and playfulness: A developmental perspective. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 42, 11–29.
42.
O'ConnellK. A.GerkovichM. M.BottM.CookM. R.ShiffmanS. (2000). Playfulness, arousal-seeking and rebelliousness during smoking sensation. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 671–683.
43.
OkimotoA.BundyA.HanzlikJ. (2000). Playfulness in children with and without disability: Measurement and intervention. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54, 73–81.
44.
PollockN.StewartD.LawM.Sahagian-WhalenS.HarveyS.ToalC. (1997). The meaning of play for young people with physical disabilities. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64, 25–31.
45.
PourtoisJ. P.DesmetH. (1989). Pour une recherche qualitative et néanmoins scientifique. Réseaux, 55–5713–35.
46.
PrimeauL. A. (1996). Work and leisure: Transcending the dichotomy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 50, 569–577.
47.
ReidD. G.MannellR. C. (1994). The globalization of the economy and potential new roles for work and leisure. Loisir et Société/Society and Leisure, 17, 251–266.
48.
ReillyM. (1974). Play as exploratory learning: Studies of curiosity behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
49.
SaundersI.SayerM.GoodaleA. (1999). The relationship between playfulness and coping in preschool children: A pilot study. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 53, 221–226.
50.
Savoie-ZajcL. (1989, April). Les critères de rigueur de la recherche qualitative.Conférence présentée au Colloque de la Société de recherche de l'Abititbi-Témiscamingue (SOREAT), Rouyn, Québec, Canada.
51.
SolnitA. J. (1998). Beyond play and playfulness. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 53, 102–110.
52.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
53.
StraussA. L.CorbinJ. (1994). Grounded theory methodology. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research (pp. 500–515). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
54.
SutoM. (1998). Leisure in occupational therapy. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65, 271–278.
55.
Sutton-SmithB. (1970). A descriptive account of children's play between one and five years. New York: Teacher's College.
56.
TeganoD. W. (1990). Relationship of tolerance ambiguity and playfulness to creativity. Psychological Reports, 66, 1047–1056.
57.
TruhonS. A. (1983). Playfulness, play and creativity: A path analytic model. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 143, 19–28.
