A Study for Quality of Life in Musically Talented Students Using Experience Sampling Method

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of life of musically talented students as measured by their external experiences (e.g., activities, companions) and internal experiences (e.g., flow, emotion). The participants in this study were 33 musically talented students (10 males, 23 females) aged 13 to 19. Study data were collected for 7 consecutive days using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which employs a cellular-phone as a signaling device. The results were as follows: First, in response to the 1625 random signals, musically talented students reported that 40.9% of their time was spent on productive activities. An additional 33.4% of time was used for maintenance activities and the rest of their time was spent on leisure/social activities. Also, musically talented students reported that 48.5% of their time was spent alone. When they were alone, they spent a lot of time engaging in productive activities (44.3%). Second, in order to measure the flow of their life, two methods were used. One used a 4-channel flow model (i.e. apathy, boredom, flow, anxiety) and the other used 8 dimensions and conditions of the flow experience (i.e. concentration, self-consciousness disappears, action and awareness merge, distorted sense of time, freedom from worry about failure, clear goals, immediate feedback, balance between challenges and skills). According to the former, when engaged in music-related activities, musically talented students usually reported flow (54.0%), while they felt apathy (41.3%) for daily routines activities. According to the latter method, musically talented students experienced flow for most productive activities, while they experienced flow least for maintenance activities. Emotional variables of ESF are comprised of 10 semantic scales (i.e. happy-sad, strong-weak, active-passive, sociablelonely, proud-ashamed, involved-detached, excited-bored, clear-confused, relaxed-worried, cooperative-competitive). Musically talented students reported experiencing the most positive emotion for social activities and experiencing the most negative emotion for maintenance activities. Results of this study assert that musically talented students had to trade off immediate enjoyment for developing their special gifts. They could not afford as much time for socializing with friends, and they had to spend more time alone compared to their peers without such gifts. Consequently, they were found to deprive themselves of the spontaneous good times that teenagers usually thrive on. They were helped in this respect by their autotelic personality traits, especially their strong need for achievement and endurance. The downside, however, is that the moment-to-moment quality of their moods suffered. The argument concerning musically talented students applies for all adolescents. The choices that talented students must make between immediate gratification and long-term development, and between solitude and companionship, are the same choices every young person must make, regardless of her or his level of talent. All of us have gifts that are potentially useful and worthy of being appreciated. But to develop these latent talents we must cultivate them, and this takes time and the investment of mental energy. The lifestyle that musically talented students develop can show us some of the choices all of us must make in order to cultivate our gifts.

경험표집법(ESM)을 통해 본 음악영재의 삶의 질

본 연구의 목적은 음악영재들이 경험하는 일상을 통해 그들이 실제 인지하는 삶의 질에 대해 알아보는 것이다. 삶의 질에 대해 측정하기 위해 일상 경험을 2가지로 나누어 살펴보았다. 하나는 외적 경험으로, 주된 활동, 함께한 사람에 대한 것이며, 다른 하나는 내적 경험으로, flow, 정서에 관한 것이다. 본 연구결과를 통해 음악영재들의 삶(일상)을 정리해 보면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 일상에서 생산활동에 참여하는 시간과 혼자 보내는 시간이 많고, 그 시간에 재능 발현을 위한 준비를 하면서 긍정적인 내적 경험을 하고 있었다. 둘째, 음악영재는 일상에서 일반청소년에 비해 긍정적인 내적 경험을 보고하고 있었다. 셋째, 다른 활동을 할 때보다 자신의 재능과 관련된 음악활동을 하면서 더 깊이 flow에 빠지고, 긍정적인 정서를 느끼고 있었다. 넷째, 음악활동을 하면서 깊은 flow를 경험하고 있었지만, 상대적으로 행복하다고 생각하지는 않았다. 이는 행복감이라는 것이 flow 경험과 동시에 오지 않는 특징을 가졌기 때문으로 보인다. 본 연구는 새로운 연구방법, 즉 경험표집법(ESM)의 사용으로 일상에 대한 풍부하고 심도 깊은 자료를 제공하고, 이러한 정보들을 통해 음악영재들을 심층적으로 이해하고 상담이나 교육을 위한 기초자료를 제공해 줄 수 있을 것이다.