diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/tests/test_types.py b/python/pyspark/sql/tests/test_types.py
index c5a6a17569763..02e3476ffd3bc 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/tests/test_types.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/tests/test_types.py
@@ -1192,6 +1192,13 @@ def test_daytime_interval_type(self):
         for n, (a, e) in enumerate(zip(actual, expected)):
             self.assertEqual(a, e, "%s does not match with %s" % (exprs[n], expected[n]))
 
+    def test_infer_array_element_type_with_struct(self):
+        # SPARK-48248: Nested array to respect legacy conf of inferArrayTypeFromFirstElement
+        with self.sql_conf(
+            {"spark.sql.pyspark.legacy.inferArrayTypeFromFirstElement.enabled": True}
+        ):
+            self.assertEqual([[1, None]], self.spark.createDataFrame([[[[1, "a"]]]]).first()[0])
+
 
 class DataTypeTests(unittest.TestCase):
     # regression test for SPARK-6055
diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/types.py b/python/pyspark/sql/types.py
index 21fef0a2c08ae..c668c5c59eca4 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/types.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/types.py
@@ -1508,13 +1508,27 @@ def _infer_type(
         if len(obj) > 0:
             if infer_array_from_first_element:
                 return ArrayType(
-                    _infer_type(obj[0], infer_dict_as_struct, prefer_timestamp_ntz), True
+                    _infer_type(
+                        obj[0],
+                        infer_dict_as_struct,
+                        infer_array_from_first_element,
+                        prefer_timestamp_ntz,
+                    ),
+                    True,
                 )
             else:
                 return ArrayType(
                     reduce(
                         _merge_type,
-                        (_infer_type(v, infer_dict_as_struct, prefer_timestamp_ntz) for v in obj),
+                        (
+                            _infer_type(
+                                v,
+                                infer_dict_as_struct,
+                                infer_array_from_first_element,
+                                prefer_timestamp_ntz,
+                            )
+                            for v in obj
+                        ),
                     ),
                     True,
                 )