Discussion: The longitudinal study took place over 19 days. It appears as though the VIA Intervention works for males, especially towards the end of the program for HAPPINESS, PRODUCTIVITY, MEANINGFULNESS, and CONNECTIVENESS. The intervention, however, was not helpful for women, except for MEANING. The program did not help

to reduce STRESS.

CONNECTEDNESSMEANINGFULNESSPRODUCTIVITYHAPPINESS

Results: VIA strengths intervention (per day)

Class activities engage students in different ways. For example, students feel most productive when working on class projects or least stressed when

presenting in class.

How do academic activities compare?Studying 267 5.6 6.1 6.1 5.3 6.1 23.3

Final exam 51 5.2 6.8 6.7 5.9 6.5 24.5Project 45 5.5 6.7 6.4 5.7 6.1 24.3Presentation 15 5.8 6.5 6.6 6.5 5.0 25.4Class 14 6.0 6.1 7.1 6.5 5.1 25.5

Our students work a lot. After that, our students are studying, watching TV/movies, and eating. Students find the most pleasure when working out

and partying.

What are our students up to?

Activity #

Happy Prod. Meaning Connect Stress

WellBeing

Working 466 6.1 6.5 6.1 6.2 4.1 22.4

Studying 267 5.6 6.1 6.1 5.3 6.1 23.3

Watching TV/Movies

281 6.7 4.6 5.6 5.4 3.9 21.8

Eating 235 6.3 5.3 5.9 5.5 3.8 24.9Relaxing 176 5.5 4.4 5.2 5.0 3.2 20.1

Driving/Transit 139 5.8 5.1 5.7 5.5 4.2 22.2

Chores 70 5.6 5.9 6.0 5.3 3.2 22.8

Shopping 77 6.4 6.2 6.4 5.8 2.9 24.8Sleeping 61 5.4 4.1 4.9 4.3 3.6 18.6

Working out 56 6.9 7.0 6.8 6.4 3.5 27.1Napping 49 6.3 3.9 6.1 4.9 3.2 21.2

Partying/Drinking 49 7.0 6.0 6.9 7.2 4.6 27.1

Gaming 47 6.9 5.8 6.8 6.3 3.7 25.8Cleaning 36 6.4 6.5 6.8 6.1 3.0 25.8

Measure 2: Daily activities

Student examples include:

Creativity: Finding new ways to complete tasks. Kindness: I decided to do a kind act for someone I work with or go to school with. It will be nothing crazy, but just a small act of kindness everyday.Honesty: No cheating or plagiarizing. By not lying at all.Open-mindedness: Take more chances, be more open to things.Leadership: I will express my opinion with confidence. Humor: I will try to use humor to make someone laugh or smile each day.

Measure 1: Using character strengths as an intervention

Method: Method: Daily Daily TEXTINGTEXTING

The new model of academic well-being

This study makes a case for better educating our students. Rather than focusing on academic achievement as our end goal, the researchers suggest that education might be better served by adopting an approach focused on maximizing academic well-being.

The new model of academic well-being (AWB) proposes six elements – emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, control, and mastery – are necessary for students to thrive academically (Huber, 2011).

This study measures the daily academic well-being of accounting students and uses an intervention to promote AWB. The researchers use an experiential sampling method, sending 3 – 5 texts to 80 students per day for 3 weeks asking questions related to AWB (n = 4330). In addition, one group of students practiced using a character strength (known as VIA) each day whereas the control group read mundane newspaper articles (Seligman, et al., 2005).

Implications of this study can inform the teaching of accounting as to what types of activities students find the most engaging. The study also gives perspective on how much YSU students work relative to other activities and how little they party. Finally, the study suggests the use of interventions can improve AWB, especially for males.

Abstract

Experiential Sampling Study: Measuring and Improving the Daily Well-Being of Accounting StudentsMarsha Huber, Associate Professor of Accounting, YSU

Dominic Jackett, MBA Student, YSU

Wei Wang, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Central Florida