An Analysis of the Hebrew Translation of the OLIW-S to Assess Adult Playfulness

Abstract

Adult playfulness is an individual difference variable that receives increasing interest. A multifacetted model of playfulness distinguishes between Other-directed, Lighthearted, Intellectual, and Whimsical playfulness. A 12-item brief version to assess these four facets with three items each, the OLIW-S, has been introduced in German. In this study, we investigate the psychometric properties of the Hebrew translation of the OLIW-S in an Israeli sample ( N = 298). Our analyses of the item and scale parameters showed acceptable internal consistencies for short scales aimed for research purposes (αs and ωs between .53 and .80), item-total correlations, factorial validity, and metric measurement invariance with the original German language version (German sample, N = 302). Overall, our findings provide initial evidence for the psychometric qualities of the Hebrew translation of the OLIW-S, and analyses using the data from Germany replicate prior findings. We discuss future perspectives for extending the study of the reliability and validity of the Hebrew OLIW-S.