Exploring the benefits of children's active play imagery

Abstract

The first purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between children's active play imagery and two developmental outcomes, personal/social skills and cognitive skills. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between children's active play imagery and self-confidence in active play. A total of 105 male and female children (Mage = 9.84, SD = 1.41) were recruited from various summer programs, and completed inventories that assessed their active play imagery (i.e., capability, social, and fun), positive personal development (i.e., personal/social skills and cognitive skills), and self-confidence. Examination of the scales' psychometric properties indicated poor reliability for the cognitive skills subscale; therefore it was excluded from further analysis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that all three active play imagery types (capability, social, fun) were positively and significantly related to personal/social skills, accounting for 26% of the variance. Specifically, capability imagery and social imagery emerged as the strongest individual predictors of personal/social skills. Further, regression analysis showed that both capability imagery and fun imagery were positively and significantly associated with self-confidence, accounting for 18% of the variance. In particular, fun imagery was found to be the strongest individual predictor of self-confidence. This study highlights the usefulness of imagery in fostering important developmental outcomes and self-confidence among children. To this end, child practitioners should consider implementing imagery workshops in school, clinical, and community settings.