Mechanisms of interest sustainment

Abstract

Sustaining an interest leads to a wealth of positive outcomes for adolescents. Whereas previous research has often attributed interest sustainment to deliberate reasons of the individual, one may argue that processes related to the daily routines and practices might also play a role in sustainment. The present study aims to provide a detailed and differentiated account of interest sustainment, which may shed light on how interest may be sustained beyond the deliberate goals and needs of the individual. In order to do so, an experience sampling method was applied in which 56 adolescents filled in a smartphone application six times, for a period of two weeks, with intervals of three months, to report all their moment-to-moment experiences of interest. By analyzing the content of these 8281 experiences of interest of 334 sustained interests chronologically, we found six mechanisms of interest sustainment. Two mechanisms were found in which individuals deliberately steered their sustainment, while four mechanisms were identified in which the object and/or practice seemed to play a role in the sustainment. Our findings thereby demonstrate that future studies, in order to understand interest sustainment and development, should look beyond the active role of the individual in sustaining interests.