The playful advantage: how playfulness enhances coping with stress

Magnuson, Cale

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/29611 Copy

Description

Title

The playful advantage: how playfulness enhances coping with stress

Author(s)

Magnuson, Cale

Issue Date

2012-02-06T20:06:40Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Barnett Morris, Lynn

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• playfulness
• perceived stress
• coping styles
• adults

Abstract

This study investigated the interrelationship between playfulness in adults, perceived stress, and styles of coping. Research on playfulness has long centered on its connection to development in children, while the study of playfulness in adulthood has just recently commenced. Similarly, the psychology literature is rife with the study of stress and coping processes, whereas its study through the lens of playfulness is virtually nonexistent. This is unfortunate, as all three constructs are cognitive-emotional in nature, suggesting a natural relationship between them. This thesis study investigated whether playfulness serves an adaptive function in the experience of stress and corresponding coping strategies among college-aged students. Findings revealed that playful individuals reported lower levels of perceived stress than their less playful counterparts. Furthermore, playful individuals more frequently utilized adaptive, stressor-focused coping strategies and were less likely to employ negative, avoidant, and escape-oriented strategies. The findings suggested that as in childhood, playfulness serves a strong adaptive function in young adulthood, providing individuals with more cognitive resources from which they can manifest effective coping mechanisms in the face of stressful situations. Playfulness, then, should not remain on the peripheries of societal and academic thought, but rather should be developed, nurtured and subjected to further scientific inquiry.

Graduation Semester

2011-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/29611

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2011 Cale Magnuson

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