The Correlation between Children\'s Playfulness and Their Social Competence(Cluster Analysis)
AUTHOR : 조미정,최태산
INFORMATION : page. 37~51 / 2011 Vol.18 No.3
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to identify any correlations between children\'s playfulness and their social
competence. The subjects of this study were 683 elementary school students - from the 3rd grade to the
6th grade - living in the Gwangju and Jeollanam-do regions. The instruments used in this study were the
children\'s playfulness scale(Tae San Choi, Myung Seon Choi & Mee Jung Cho, 2008) and the social
competence scale(Mi Hyun Han, 2005). The research data was analyzed by means of cluster analysis this
was done in order to verify the type of playfulnes and one way ANOVA was conducted in order to
determine the differences in social competence. As a result of our classification of all the children by the
criteria of six playfulness subvariables, four types seemed to emerge. They are as follows: the low
playfulness type, the independent pursuit of fun playfulness type, the relationship-oriented playfulness type
and the high playfulness type. Generally, the high playfulness type exhibited the best social competence
followed by the relationship-oriented playfulness type, the independent pursuit of fun playfulness type, and
the low playfulness type. Both the high playfulness type and the relationship-oriented playfulness type
exhibited the best social participation.