The experience of flow and subjective well-being of music students

• Main Authors: Barbara Smolej Fritz, Andreja Avsec
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Slovenian Psychologists' Association 2007-07-01
• Series: Psihološka Obzorja
• Subjects: flow; subjective well being; musicians
• Online Access: http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2007_2/smolej.pdf

In the present study we were interested in the concept of flow – an optimal psychical state which is connected with high achievement and positive experiences. It was supposed that experiencing flow during different musical activities (e. g., rehearsals, solo performance, performance with the orchestra) should be related to subjective well being, common in life. Eighty-four students of the Academy ofMusic (28 male and 56 female) completed the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS-2), which measures nine dimensions of flow. Results confirmed that several aspects of flow are positively related to measures of subjective well being. Clear goals, challenge-skill balance, concentration on the task, and autotelicexperience are important predictors of positive affect, explaining 36% of its variance, challenge-skill balance is an important predictor for negative affect, explaining 26% of its variance, and clear goals is an important predictor for satisfaction with life, explaining 8% of its variance. We conclude that experiencing flow is more related to emotional than cognitive aspects of subjective well being, which is not surprising, since flow is an extremely emotional experience.