The Eudaimonic Utility of Learning Spaces

As schools face record absenteeism, needed are ways of indexing forces that motivate youths’ attendance. In this paper, we introduce eudaimonic utility (EU): the perception that an environment can help someone become the person they are meant to be. An environment with high EU is seen as a place where one can (a) pursue their purpose in life, (b) grow, (c) bring out their best, and (d) live authentically. To propose this new theoretical construct, we set out to articulate EU’s position at the crossroads of motivation science and positive psychology. Then, to offer the field a tool to begin its empirical study, we established the Eudaimonic Utility Scale through factor analyses among adolescents enrolled in an extracurricular program (Study 1: N = 146, M[SD] = 16.24[1.22] years/Study 2: N = 170, M[SD] = 16.02[1.10] years). Program and school EU converged with most context-matched motivation measures; school EU correlated with higher self-reported grades and well-being; and, when anticipated program EU outpaced school EU, lower psychosocial health was likely. Together, EU offers programs and schools a novel and interdisciplinary way for tracking impact, as well as aligning their mission with the young people they are built to serve.