From playful parents to adaptable children: a structural equation model of the relationships between playfulness and adaptability among young adults and their parents

For evolved phenotypical characteristics to be retained by organisms, the adaptive advantages of those characteristics must outweigh their costs. The costs of play can involve injury, susceptibility to predation, and use of time that might otherwise be devoted to food acquisition while its advantages might include learning, socialization, and physical exercise. Another general evolutionary advantage of play might be that it confers adaptability. The primary goal of this study is to seek empirical evidence for the role of playfulness in shaping adaptability by examining two questions: whether the children of more playful parents are more playful and whether more playful children are more adaptable. Our results based on a young adult sample (n = 311) and their ratings about themselves and their parents support a positive link between playfulness and adaptability, while pushing for a more intricate understanding of the differential roles of parents in passing on the benefit of playfulness.