Play in the digital age: linking preschool children’s digital play addiction tendency, parental mediation strategies, and classroom playfulness

Introduction Digital play occupies a prominent place in young children’s daily lives. However, limited evidence exists on how parental mediation of digital play relates to children’s observed playfulness in non-digital environments and their digital play addiction tendencies. This study examined associations among observed playfulness, digital play addiction tendency, and parental mediation strategies in preschool children. Methods Participants were 42 Turkish children aged 60–72 months and their parents. Children’s playfulness was assessed through free-play observations using the Test of Playfulness, while parents completed the Digital Play Addiction Tendency Scale and the Digital Play Parental Mediation Scale. Spearman’s rank-order correlations were used to examine associations among the variables, with false discovery rates controlled using the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure. Results Following the Benjamini–Hochberg correction, overall playfulness and its dimensions were not significantly associated with digital play addiction tendency or parental mediation strategies. Technical Mediation remained positively associated with all four dimensions of digital play addiction tendency. Encouraging Mediation remained positively associated with Disconnection from Life, Conflict, and Constant Play, whereas its association with Displacement was no longer statistically significant after correction. Active and Permissive Mediation showed no significant associations. Conclusion The absence of significant associations involving observed playfulness suggests that playfulness in preschool free-play contexts may not directly reflect home-based digital play behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of considering contextual differences when examining children’s play and underscore the need for future research assessing play characteristics directly within home environments.