Flow as a catalyst for positive youth development

Project-based youth programs are settings in which Csikszentmihalyi's "flow" experience serves as a powerful catalyst for developing vital adult skills. In conducting projects (e.g., creating films, planning events) youth become deeply engaged with challenges that anticipate real-world adult demands: developing plans, taking responsibility, solving problems. Drawing on several large interview studies, we first describe how challenge-driven experiential learning processes in projects fuel both flow and learning. Then, we examine how real-world setbacks can disrupt work, but are often converted into "challenges" that lead to solutions. Youth learned because "we had to analyze" a situation or find a way around. They developed strategic thinking for forecasting scenarios in their work and formulating flexible plans. Youth also learned to manage emotions that disrupted their work and use emotions for information and motivation to improve their work. Youth sometimes experienced a grittier state of "real-world flow" that combines setbacks with high motivation and attention.