The children's developmental play instrument (CDPI): a validity study

This is a construct validity study of The Children's Developmental Play Instrument (CDPI), a multidimensional scale to measure play activity among mainstream children based on the psychoanalytic concepts of coping and defense strategies. The focus of this study is upon four play styles: Adaptive; Impulsive; Inhibited/Conflicted, and Disorganized. Ten-minute videotapes of 71 children between the ages of 1.3 and 6.1 years are analyzed using correlational analysis. Good to excellent reliability on this data set is established by Kappa ratings of two independent raters. Factor analysis of the data reveals three underlying clusters of variables corresponding to the following play styles; Adaptive; Impulsive/Disorganized; Conflicted/Inhibited. These results provide support for the construct validity of the CDPI and suggest the need for continued research. The CDPI has potential use as a tool for teachers, researchers and practitioners across professions. In addition, categories defined in the CDPI can be helpful in assisting parents to observe and understand the play activity of their children.