Beyond challenge-seeking and skill-building: Toward the lifespan developmental perspective on flow theory

ABSTRACT

The current developmental perspective on flow theory focuses mainly on the growth of skills. Such perspective, however, may overlook how individuals find flow in the face of developmental losses. This paper expands the current developmental perspective on flow theory by incorporating the contemporary view of lifespan human development. The first part of the review is an introduction to the current developmental perspective on flow theory and its premises. The second part identifies and describes the theories of how individuals respond to excess environmental challenges. The third part proposes a new lifespan developmental perspective on flow theory that revises the original premises and covers the range of cognitive and behavioral responses to challenge–skill imbalance. The fourth part explains the relations of the imbalance-induced responses to the imbalance–flow experience model. The final part discusses potential moderators that facilitate (or inhibit) the effectiveness of the imbalance-induced responses.

KEYWORDS:

• Flow experience
• challenge-skill balance
• lifespan development

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Antonella Delle Fave for her invaluable comments on the earlier version of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.