Assessment of Pretend Play in Preschool-Aged Children: Validation and Factor Analysis of the Affect in Play Scale–Preschool Version

Abstract

The Affect in Play Scale–Preschool (APS–P) and Affect in Play Scale–Preschool–Brief Rating (APS–P–BR) versions assess cognitive and affective play processes during a 5-min standardized play task. In this study, construct validity, external validity, and factor analyses for each scale were examined in 107 preschoolers. Reliability and validity were supported. Unlike results found with school-aged samples, positive affect loaded with the cognitive variables on factor analyses of the APS–P and APS–P–BR, suggesting that negative and undefined affect might represent a separate factor in preschool-aged children. Developmental significance and implications for use of the 2 scoring versions are discussed.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children, parents, teachers, staff, and administrator, Karen Heitlinger, at The Music Settlement for their interest in pretend play and participation in this study. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Rebecca Hazen for her statistical consultation.

Preliminary analyses of the data included in this article were reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality Assessment in Boston, MA, March 2011. Fehr and Russ (2013) reported correlational data using a subset of this sample. Data in the current article compare results obtained through a different scoring method than the results reported in Fehr and Russ.