Playfulness in middle- and older age: testing associations with life satisfaction, character strengths, and flourishing.

Objectives: Playfulness describes individual differences in (re)framing situations in a way that they are experienced as interesting, intellectually stimulating, or entertaining. We extended the study of playfulness to groups of middle- and higher age and examined the relations of four facets of playfulness (Other-directed, Lighthearted, Intellectual, and Whimsical) to indicators of positive psychological functioning.

Method: We collected self-report data from 210 participants aged between 50 and 98 years.

Results: The playfulness expressions in this age group were comparable to younger adults. We found that playfulness relates to life satisfaction, the PERMA domains of well-being, and character strengths with small-to-medium correlation effect sizes. The OLIW facets showed differential associations, with regression analyses revealing that particularly Other-directed is positively associated with positive psychological functioning.

Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of playful relationships across the lifespan. We discuss the findings regarding the role of playfulness for healthy aging.