The Impact of Game Challenge on Flow in 5~6 Year Old Children: The Moderating Role of Goal Orientation

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2025.01.009

Abstract

Abstract:

Previous studies have shown that young children are capable of experiencing flow which enhances their concentration and promotes their holistic development. However, the conditions and influencing factors of flow in young children remain under explored. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of game challenge on children’s flow and explored whether goal orientation moderates this relationship. The results showed that: 1) children experienced higher levels of flow during high-challenge games compared to low-challenge game conditions; 2) goal orientation played a moderating role in the association between game challenge and children’s flow, such that children with a mastery goal orientation were more likely to experience higher levels of flow in high-challenge game settings. These findings indicate that game challenge enhances the flow levels in 5- to 6-year-old children, with goal orientation playing as a moderating role between game challenge and children’s flow levels. Our findings suggest that parents and teachers can design challenging learning and gaming environments to cultivate children’s mastery goal orientation, thereby promoting their flow levels and facilitating holistic development.

Key words: young children, flow, challenge, mastery goal, performance goal

摘要：

已有研究表明，幼儿也能够体验心流，且心流有助于提升幼儿的专注力，促进其全面发展。然而，幼儿心流的产生条件和影响因素仍需进一步探讨。本研究采用两个实验，探讨游戏挑战性对幼儿心流的影响，并考察目标取向在其中的调节作用。结果发现，(1)与低游戏挑战性相比，幼儿在高游戏挑战性中的心流水平更高；(2)目标取向在游戏挑战性和幼儿心流之间起调节作用，持有掌握目标取向的幼儿在高游戏挑战性中拥有更高程度的心流。结果表明，游戏挑战性提升了5～6岁幼儿的心流水平，目标取向在游戏挑战性与幼儿心流水平之间起调节作用。

关键词: 幼儿, 心流, 挑战性, 掌握目标, 表现目标

Shuyue ZHANG, Fang LIANG, Mengying YANG, Yumei HE, Kepeng XU. The Impact of Game Challenge on Flow in 5~6 Year Old Children: The Moderating Role of Goal Orientation[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(1): 66-72.

张姝玥, 梁芳, 杨梦颖, 何玉梅, 徐科朋. 游戏挑战性对5～6岁幼儿心流的影响：目标取向的调节作用[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2025, 23(1): 66-72.

Figures/Tables 1

References 0

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