Playful minds : the role of adolescents' playfulness in intelligence and scholastic achievement

Abstract

Playfulness in adolescents can be defined as an individual disposition to engage in playful behavior such as playing with words when interacting with others, humorously teasing friends, inventing small scenes or role-plays when telling stories, and liking to play with new ideas. While research has explored playfulness' impact on adolescents' well-being, motivation, and social skills, less is known about its relationship with performance-related outcomes, including scholastic achievement and psychometric intelligence. In two studies, we collected self-reported data on global playfulness and its facets (other-directed, lighthearted, intellectual and whimsical) from German-speaking adolescents (N1 = 295; N2 = 122; age range: 12–21 years). We also assessed adolescents' scholastic performances in various school subjects and administered two psychometric intelligence tests to assess adolescents' general cognitive ability in individual and group settings. Intellectual playfulness was primarily associated with higher scholastic achievement and psychometric intelligence as assessed in individual test settings but not in group settings. Less consistently, lighthearted playfulness was negatively associated with measures of psychometric intelligence. Our gender-specific analysis revealed that the associations might differ between girls and boys. We discuss implications for appropriate assessment settings according to adolescents' playfulness and how adolescents can better capitalize on their playfulness for their educational and intellectual pursuits.