Playfulness: its relationship with instrumental and expressive traits

The relationship of instrumental and expressive traits with playfulness among adults was investigated. Questionnaire data from 182 women and 166 men who were university students were analysed. The results provided support for the additive model rather than for the balance or the emergent models. In general, scores on instrumentality and expressiveness made significant additive contributions to scores on playfulness, or to scores on the playfulness factors, above any contributions that were made by sex. The contributions to scores on playfulness that were made by scores on instrumentality were greater than the contributions that were made by scores on expressiveness. The Instrumentality×Expressiveness interaction made a significant contribution only in one model. The findings provide support for the validity of the Adult Playfulness Scale.