A new study from Oregon State University reveals that adults with high levels of playfulness demonstrated greater resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to less playful individuals. The research highlights the importance of playfulness as a resource for building resilience and maintaining well-being during challenging times.
A new study led by Xiangyou 'Sharon' Shen of Oregon State University reveals that adults with higher levels of playfulness demonstrated greater resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to their less playful counterparts. This research highlights the crucial, yet often overlooked, role of playfulness in building resilience and maintaining well-being during challenging periods.
Shen, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Forestry and director of the Health, Environment and Leisure Research Lab (HEAL), emphasizes that playfulness is a valuable resource that individuals can cultivate. Understanding how playful individuals navigate adversity can provide insights into interventions and strategies to help people cope with stress and uncertainty, especially in the face of increasing global challenges. The study involved over 500 adults from the United States, divided into two groups based on their playfulness levels, as measured by the Adult Playfulness Trait Scale. While both groups shared similar perceptions of risks and protective factors, the highly playful individuals expressed greater optimism about future possibilities, engaged in more creative problem-solving, and found ways to infuse quality and enjoyment into everyday activities. They actively transformed challenging situations, discovered creative alternatives for lost experiences, viewed obstacles as opportunities for growth, and maintained a strong sense of control over their responses. Shen notes that the highly playful participants didn't necessarily engage in different activities or do them more frequently than their less playful counterparts. However, they experienced these activities with greater quality, characterized by deeper immersion, higher activeness, and a more positive emotional response. This ability to 'make lemonade from lemons', as Shen describes it, is directly connected to resilience. Their unique combination of realistic assessment and flexible problem-solving emerged as a powerful formula, demonstrating how personality traits like playfulness shape our responses under stress.Shen clarifies that playful individuals don't perceive the world through a distorted lens but possess the ability to find the upside while maintaining a clear-eyed understanding of reality. Highly playful people acknowledged the risks and challenges posed by COVID-19, but they excelled at 'lemonading' – creatively envisioning and pursuing the positive, discovering ways to create moments of joy even in difficult circumstances. This study aimed to address the long-standing claim that playful people 'reframe' situations to make them more enjoyable. While this idea was widely accepted, the precise mechanisms behind this reframing remained unclear. Shen and Crawley saw the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to investigate this phenomenon. By examining a population experiencing similar large-scale disruption, they were able to move beyond assumptions and determine the specific ways playfulness helps people navigate tough times. Shen concludes that playfulness doesn't distort reality; it enhances it. While the study focused on measuring playfulness rather than developing it, research suggests several approaches to cultivate this quality. These include engaging in activities that spark joy and curiosity, prioritizing laughter and humor, embracing spontaneity and flexibility, and actively seeking out novel experiences
Playfulness Resilience COVID-19 Stress Well-Being Personality Traits
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