Abstracts - Earli

K 1831 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 0.100CSymposiumSchool-leisure conflict and learning motivationChair: Manfred Hofer, University of Mannheim, GermanyOrganiser: Manfred Hofer, University of Mannheim, GermanyOrganiser: Thea Peetsma, University of Amsterdam, NetherlandsDiscussant: Jenefer Husman, Arizona State University, USAIn order to understand why some pupils persist in their learning and others give up more easily it isimportant not only to look at pupils’ level of motivation to learn but also to consider competingaction alternatives.Several studies show that nowadays students in their everyday life deal with amultiplicity of goals, many of them being non-academic in nature. They carry out a wide range ofactivities, strive for multiple goals (Lanz & Rosnati, 2002), and have future time perspectives indifferent life domains (Peetsma, 1997, 2000). Therefore, under certain circumstances, academicgoals may come in rivalry with non-academic goals (Hofer et al., 2006; Lens et al., 2005). In thissymposium, the rivalry between school and extracurricular goals, conditions that influencepossible conflicts, effects of conflicts on performance and well-being, and variables moderatingtrade-offs will be treated. One line of research on school-leisure conflict deals with the effects ofthe quantity and quality of out-of-school activities on study-outcomes and well-being. Situationaland personality variables moderating and mediating resistance to temptation will be examined. Inthe realm of cognitions, effects of time perspectives regarding leisure and school on students’ selfregulatedlearning behaviour are studied. Also, individual value orientations are investigated aspredictors and effects of learning regulation following learning-leisure conflicts. School-leisureconflicts are a widespread phenomenon among nowadays pupils and university students (Fries etal., 2005). Current theories of learning motivation usually model academic behaviour as dependingsolely on factors the learner attributes to the learning behaviour and its consequences. Thescientific relevance of the symposium lies in dealing with the effects of competing attractivealternatives on learning.Time engagement in out-of-school activities, study outcomes and well-being: Moderating effects oftask motivation and task characteristicsEva Derous, University of Rotterdam, NetherlandsWilly Lens, University of Leuven, BelgiumAfter-school employment and leisure activities have become major activities in students’ lives.This study investigated how extracurricular activities affect students’ well-being and studyoutcomes.Negative effects typically arise because engagement in extracurricular activities takestime away from studying, which may lower study attitudes and grades. Whereas previous studiesmainly investigated the quantity of engagement, the present research focused also on the quality ofthis engagement. Using theories of role conflict, job design and motivation, we investigatedwhether (a) type of extracurricular activity (work vs. leisure), (b) work-study conflict, (c) qualityof work, and (d) motivation to perform part-time work, could explain the effects of timeinvestment in extracurricular activities on undergraduates’ study attitude, academic performance,and well-being. Participants were 230 undergraduate students of a large public university. A seriesof hierarchical regressions show that spending too much time in extracurricular activities (both– 626 –