A second article that describes students' answers to our survey, with a focus on data, values and character strengths
Time for a second appointment with students' voice, let's explore data about their participation, and some answers around the topic of motivation, values and strengths.
The #graphs show the sample of students who responded to the Students’ voice questionnaire towards the end of the Easter break. More graphs below.
Participants:
Male - 60
Female - 96
Prefer not to say - 4
Below, you’ll find the 3 multiple choice questions and their results, including the answers that students chose to articulate as ‘other’.
What motivates you to follow the rules of the lockdown?
Students were asked to explore their motivation in this area, and were given 4 options.
14 out of 160 decided to express their motivation with their own words, and they are reported in full, below.
The vast majority of students (53%) said they ‘do it because I want to do my part to help facing the pandemic’, 16% stated a pure adherence to the rules, while 2 out of 160 stated that they do it because their ‘parents force them to’.
Many students took a position of #responsibility and #agency, which is one that is better related to maintaining #wellbeing in stressful situations. Having an internal ‘locus of control’ is related to perceiving the possibility to play a role in one’s own experiences and in #coping with different events. This has a better chance to bring e.g. experiences of self-efficacy, while a more passive approach - in which our actions depend solely on external factors - oftentimes relates with fewer opportunities to strengthen our coping mechanisms and actually take some benefit out of situations like the one we are experiencing (also see Dweck’s work on fixed and growth mindset).
I follow the rules, because I don't want to accidentally give the virus to my family
It's not that I'm motivated to follow the rules, but rather that I live like this anyways.
The only part of the lockdown that really influenced my life is the fact that I can’t visit my friends like I used to. I can’t visit my friends without my mum’s permission (they don’t live close) so that one part might be because my parents force me to.
A mixture of all. It just feels as the correct thing towards others as well.
It's for our own good and other people's too.
I try to but my parents own an office so they work there during the lock down and they leave me at home with my dogs so I'm forced to go out with them, but I still protect myself with the gloves and the mask.
I do it for reasons Number 3, 4 and also because I want to protect my dear ones
If I don't then the situation will only worsen
I do it so that we can all start living our normal lives as soon as possible
I really want to do my best to defeat this virus, because even though not all of us have illnesses or respiratory issues we need to fight together as a global community. I am really keen in wanting to close this chapter that is destroying our whole globe. My mum is also a subject at risk and this brings me to be even more careful of the situation respecting even more the rules
I follow them because the alternative could harm me, my family and other people.
All 4 but most of all number 4
I am fine with staying at home
I do it because this what each citizen should be doing; we all have a role to play in the community, and today being part of the community means not only be responsible (what you should always do) but also think as a collective and about the best measures to help each other. Following the rules is part of our common humanity.
Is there any personal value that you are pursuing through staying at home?
Students were given 4 options and could choose one or two.
The question aimed at helping students connect with the things that are #important to them and that act for them as drives to develop the #willingness to do things that are unpleasant in many different ways (scary, boring, tiring, frustrating, …).
This is an essential element of psychological flexibility, the ability to maintain gentle awareness of the present moment and take action based on your values and goals. Willingness is a big part of our ability to manage challenging situations, namely the willingness to experience difficult thoughts and emotions in the service of what matters most to us.
It takes #effort to make healthy choices, as the mind often spontaneously goes into #avoidance of what we don’t want to experience, which is a trap. Identifying our values is a bit like having a polar star that reminds us of why we NOW want to take care of who we want to be TOMORROW.
Which goes nicely in the direction students chose for 32%: ‘caring for myself’. This is no selfish act: growing into adulthood means starting to take responsibility for one’s actions and their consequences, which can be also seen as an element of freedom (some say freedom actually IS responsibility, an extremely interesting topic to explore).
It is fundamental that students have in mind how to take good care of themselves. Sometimes it might look different from what they think, but by speaking with students I know they can have their wise views on this topic.
27% of students also reported they aim at ‘Being active in responding to difficulties’, and 15% stated they want to ‘challenge themselves and learning healthy ways to cope’. Fewer students chose the option ‘Giving to others and having a positive influence’: are students more focused on their own pathway and less on their role in having a positive influence in the service of others? I wouldn’t go that far by interpreting these data, but I’d like to transform this into a reflection for students: how do you think is important to #make a #difference through your own actions and decisions? Are there areas in which it is more challenging to act responsibly with in mind the resonance your actions have on your peers?
9 students chose to explain themselves through writing the following words:
It allows me to be more organized, as all my work is in one place, making it easy to access
I'm learning to come (to terms) with boredom and cohabitation
Talking to my friends in other countries more
I am not pursuing any personal values
Learning new things about myself
My parents have always taught me to show resilience in the face of adversity, and I believe that, through my self-determination and my perseverance I am able to "live" this terrible experience in what I could qualify as a serene way. I'm also extremely principled so I know what is right to do.
Being mindful and open minded taking large count of everyone and the situation
I'm enjoying the time I have with my parents
Finding fun activities to do at home, maybe the things I didn't have time to do before lockdown
Graphs of question n.4:
male, female, prefer not to say and age group
What strength/skill are you using and cultivating in this situation?
Students were given 15 options and could choose up to three, but many chose more.
This last question was inspired by a perspective that I felt it was essential to add to the idea that teenagers are either not very responsible, or vulnerable subjects.
Teenagers are living a unique moment of development and growth, both physiologically and psychologically: their brains grow connections: “while volume indeed decreases from childhood to young adulthood, gray matter density actually increases” (Gur et al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2017).
Teens are capable of #resilience, mostly when their families are present and supportive, showing low criticism and high commitment to listen and understand, AND when teenagers themselves can learn about how they function, where their strengths are and when they’re using them, with what purpose.
The 15 character strengths proposed in question 5 were selected from the 24 described in the work of Martin #Seligman, a very interesting perspective developed in the early 2000s following a cross cultural series of studies (to learn more visit www.viacharacter.org)
The home page of the website states as follows:
"Bring your character strengths to life & live more fully: when you discover your greatest strengths, you learn to use them to handle stress and life challenges, become happier, and develop relationships with those who matter most to you. What are your strengths?"
Students’ top 3 choices in this situation were the following:
1. CREATIVITY - 2. HUMOUR - 3. HOPE
Closely followed by #gratitude.
In the tables below, you can find the definition of each and every strength that was included in the survey, to help students have a clearer understanding of the options.
Graphs of question n.5
(students could choose more than one, some chose many)
4 students chose to add some other strengths:
To the student who is cultivating 'LAZINESS: I'm using this as an opportunity to rest more’, I’d like to say that resting is listed among human rights (Article 24 'Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay') and it’s ok if *he feels *he’s happy with calling it being lazy.
*he should also know that having a good balance between commitments and rest is one key element of mental health and wellbeing, so yes I’m using my sense of humour here, but I’m also being honest, and supportive of some nice and well deserved time to rest :)
Ask Calvin & Hobbes!
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