TY - JOUR
T1 - Experiencing and Learning About Emotions
T2 - A Longitudinal Analysis of Youth Program Participants
AU - Villegas, Elizabeth
AU - Raffaelli, Marcela
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This research was supported by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation #10914 (R. Larson, P.I.; M. Raffaelli, co-P.I.). We thank the participants in this study and acknowledge the contributions of the Pathways Project research team. We are grateful to Reed Larson and Natalie Rusk for their input on this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Organized youth programs provide a context where adolescents experience strong emotions and may develop new ways of thinking about and dealing with emotions. The current study examined youth’s reports of positive and negative emotions arising during the course of their work in different types of project-based programs; learning about emotions from different sources (e.g., from observing peers, interacting with adult staff, or engaging in self-reflection); and longitudinal associations between emotional experiences and learning. Quantitative data were collected at two time points from 319 youth (57% female; M age = 15.8 years; 33% Latino, 29% Black, 32% White, 6% other) participating in 14 Midwestern programs focused on Leadership, Arts and Performance (Arts), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Overall, positive emotions occurred more frequently than negative emotions, but emotional experiences differed based on the focus of the program. There were few significant differences in emotional learning from various sources (self, peers, staff) across the three types of programs. Multiple regression models controlling for prior learning indicated that, consistent with theory, positive emotions predicted subsequent learning about emotions from all sources. In contrast, negative emotions predicted increased learning from peers but decreased learning from self, suggesting that experiencing negative (vs. positive) emotions may lead youth to attend to different sources of information. The study’s findings have implications for theory, research, and practice.
AB - Organized youth programs provide a context where adolescents experience strong emotions and may develop new ways of thinking about and dealing with emotions. The current study examined youth’s reports of positive and negative emotions arising during the course of their work in different types of project-based programs; learning about emotions from different sources (e.g., from observing peers, interacting with adult staff, or engaging in self-reflection); and longitudinal associations between emotional experiences and learning. Quantitative data were collected at two time points from 319 youth (57% female; M age = 15.8 years; 33% Latino, 29% Black, 32% White, 6% other) participating in 14 Midwestern programs focused on Leadership, Arts and Performance (Arts), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Overall, positive emotions occurred more frequently than negative emotions, but emotional experiences differed based on the focus of the program. There were few significant differences in emotional learning from various sources (self, peers, staff) across the three types of programs. Multiple regression models controlling for prior learning indicated that, consistent with theory, positive emotions predicted subsequent learning about emotions from all sources. In contrast, negative emotions predicted increased learning from peers but decreased learning from self, suggesting that experiencing negative (vs. positive) emotions may lead youth to attend to different sources of information. The study’s findings have implications for theory, research, and practice.
KW - Emotional experiences
KW - Emotional learning, Longitudinal
KW - Organized youth programs
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U2 - 10.1007/s10964-018-0885-7
DO - 10.1007/s10964-018-0885-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 29961240
AN - SCOPUS:85049185331
SN - 0047-2891
VL - 47
SP - 1684
EP - 1696
JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
IS - 8
ER -