LEARNING-RELATED ACTIVITIES: THE IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED EFFECTS ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

Problem statement: Satisfaction and enjoyment in everyday experience, work and leisure is important for understanding subjective well-being. However, people experience different levels of pleasure, meaning, and engagement during specific activities. Research questions: The study investigated the effect of activity type (related or unrelated to learning) on momentary positive and negative affect and satisfaction. Purpose: Students generally find meaning in education-related activities, although they usually do not enjoy them. Whereas pleasurable (predominantly freely chosen) activities immediately increase well-being, meaningful activities that are often imposed, may have a delayed effect on satisfaction and affect. However, the temporal extent of these effects is still unclear. Research methods: 117 students (aged 18-27 years, 28% males) participated in the experience sampling study during one week. They were prompted five times per day to describe what they were doing and to assess momentary positive and negative affect and satisfaction on hand-held devices. Reported activities were coded as learning-related or other activities. Findings: Hierarchical linear modelling showed that engaging in learning activities immediately decreased satisfaction and increased negative affect, when compared with other activities. The delayed effects were significant up to three hours for negative affect and six hours for satisfaction. On the other hand, the activity type had neither immediate nor delayed effect on positive affect. Conclusions: Learning-related activities decrease subjective well-being, but this effect ceases after six hours. In general, freely chosen activities are source of pleasure and enjoyment. On the other hand, learning-related activities are necessary for the realization of long-term goals, but they are often not enjoyable because they are mainly imposed. (C) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK