Research Article

Children’s Perceptions of Their Play: Scale Development and Validation

Table 2

Results of principal component analysis and reliability tests for subscales of children’s perceptions of their play scale for Sample 1 subjects.

Item“Child’s Choice” (I)“Social Play” (II)“Planned Activities” (III)“Engagement” (IV)“Active Play” (V)“Free Time” (VI)

(1) I would like more time to do things that I want to do..8147.0811.2103.1511.1108.2492
(2) I wish I had more play time when I can choose what I want to do..8320.1245.0859.1284.1497.2078
(3) I have to do lots of things I don’t like to do.*.7844.0317.2015.2116.0102.1267
(4) It seems like there’s people telling me what to do in my play time a lot.*.7692.2294.2249.1761.0775.0563
(5) I don’t like when my mom or dad signs me up to do some activity without asking me..6740.1384.1862.0133.0829.1420
(6) I wish I could stop doing some of my after school activities..6589.1922.1604−.1189.0511.1714
(7) I would like to spend more time doing things with my friends..2799.6761.0079.2401.0109.2261
(8) If I had some free time I’d mostly want to spend it with my friends..1381.7658.1334.1253−.2005.1317
(9) In my free time I enjoy being alone.*.2683.8211.2510.1101.2901.1756
(10) I would like to spend more time doing things with my family..0581.6625.0849.0766.1460.2103
(11) I would like to sign up to do more fun things after school..0893−.0691.8603.1314−.0254−.0488
(12) I would like to sign up to do more fun things on the weekends..1477−.1410.8479.1195−.0469−.0697
(13) I like to have plans made ahead of time to do an activity..1381.0992.6891.0254.0081−.0450
(14) I feel like I sometimes waste a lot of my free time.*.1504.1418.6617.3191−.0763.1049
(15) I wish my neighborhood had more organized activities for kids my age..1892.2111.7998.1303.1745.0102
(16) When I play I really get involved in what I’m doing..1039.0769.0451.8759−.0026.0841
(17) If I had a few free hours I’d know just how I’d like to spend them..2145.1253−.1841.7481.0754.2051
(18) After school I often get bored and don’t know what to do.*−.0489−.0658.1527.8711−.2105.0186
(19) On weekends I often get bored and don’t know what to do.*−.0341.1291.2439.7846.0693−.1274
(20) I like to be really active when I play..0682.0756.1055.0671.8219.0799
(21) When I have some free time I like to watch TV.*.1511−.0244.0219.0693.8554.0561
(22) When I have some free time I mostly like to play video or computer games.*.0740.0917.0847.1925.7899.0244
(23) I enjoy my time off of school..1128.1743.1548.0554.0847.8499
(24) When I get a day off of school I really look forward to it..2906.1758.0840.0682−.0325.7782
(25) When I don’t have to go to school I just want to play all day..2452.2005−.2029.2198.1764.8187
Eigenvalue 4.18813.87553.64702.59031.94811.2993
Unique explained variance (%)24.7615.4214.8311.198.867.18
Cumulative explained variance (%)24.7640.1855.0166.2075.0682.24
Reliability
Internal consistency (coefficient omega).9125.8394.8529.8638.8770.7963
Test-retest (3 months) stability ( ).8010.8327.7714.7289.8207.7133

Inverted coding.
Significant item loadings are in bold.