A Longitudinal Exploration of Flow and Intrinsic Motivation in Adolescents.

Abstract

In this study, we explore changes and continuities in adolescents' optimal experiences over two years and relate these to the development of affective and motivatienal patterns. Optimal experience, or occurs when people do intrinsically rewarding activities in which they feel optimally challenged relative to their level.of skills (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). .The major questions addressed by this research concern whether increasing in frequency or intensity of flow is associated with positive changes in adolescents' cognitive and affective experiences both in and out of school. As participants in the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), 281 adolescents from 12 sites across the U.S. each provided an average of 32 'reports of their daily experiences for one week while they were in the 6th, 8th, and 10th grades, and for another week 18 months later. Results expand on earlier findings by showing that those who increased in flow also increased in intrinsic motivation, self esteem, time spent doing school work, and in the relevance of their activities to their future career goals. 3 One of the most difficult asks for educators of adolescents is to encourage the development of self-directed learning. In order for this development to occur, adolescents must become motivated at least in part.by their feelings of enjoyment while doing learning activities. When adolescents are intrinsically motivated to learn, they not only learn more, they also experience more positive affect and self esteem (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Yet, research has also shown that adolescents are typically not intrinsically motivated to do school work (e.g. Csikszentmihalyi & Larson. 1984). The question of how to promote intrinsic motivation in school has been extensively studied. At the level of daily experiences, several studies have linked intrinsic motivation to flow, optimal experiences in which individuals engage their skills in challenging activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Over the longer term, little is known about intraindividual changes in flow and intrinsic motivation for school work and how these changes relate to the development of self-directed learning. In this study we focus on this question by examining how changes in adolescent flow experiences over time relate to other behavioral and affective changes. We consider people to be intrinsically motivated when they freely do what interests them simply because they enjoy doing the activity and not primarily as a means to some external reward. As Deci and Ryan (1985) pointed out, it may be unrealistic to expect that all of an adolescent's school work be intrinsically motivated. Students' individual interests and preferences play a role in determining which activities they will find intrinsically motivating. Some educational topics or activities that are necessary but not interesting to a particular student will need to be regulated externally. Even in these situations, however, self-directed learning can develop when students integrate and internalize external regulations (Deci and Ryan, 1985). Still, the most

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