The Meaning of Play that Adolescents Perceive and The Content Analysis of Psychological Changes after Play
AUTHOR : 배미랑,박희현
INFORMATION : page. 93~113 / 2011 Vol.18 No.3
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research was to identify the characteristics of adolescents play content and their attitudes
toward the meaning of “a teenager who plays well” and what having “played well” entails. In addition, this
research observed the physical and psychological changes which took place in adolescents after a period of play.
The subjects of this research were 302 middle and high school students residing in Gwangju Metropolitan City
and Jeollanam province. First, the most common activities for both male and female adolescents were found to
be entertainment; Internet, games, and watching TV, in that order. Second, when surveyed about the
characteristics of “a teenager who plays well” in relation to sports and talents, male students generally responded
with “being good at sports,” whereas most female students responded with “being good at playing.” Concerning
personality, the most frequent answers were; being outgoing, cheerful, and positive(leadership). In the areas of
society and languages, most of the feedback was positive. Third, the answers of most adolescents in this study
regarding their understanding of or definition of what having “played well” actually constituted were related to
physical forms of play and sports. Most adolescents recognized having “played well” when they played sports, or
engaged in games or singing. In the area of emotions and thoughts, they saw “playing well” as having played
as much as they wanted to, having done what they wanted to do, and having had fun while playing. In the
social category, most answered that “playing well” was best defined as spending time with friends and family.
In the area of language, they felt that talking, laughing a lot, and reading books constituted having played
well. Psychological changes after play for both males and females were positive; the common emotions meantioed
were ‘feeling good’, ‘happy’, and ‘satisfied’, etc.