CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The study was designed to assess the influence of child's personality and perception of parental relationship on children's optimal experiences.We proposed functional and dysfunctional models to analyze the increase or the decrease of the children's flow experience.The sample of this study included 909 middle class children, aged 9-12 (M=11.02,SD=1.08),both sexes,from Argentine.When we analysed the psychologycal factors that could be related to the flow state in childhood,we found out that the child's perception of a functional parental relationship, in wich there is either acceptance or moderate control, indirectly affects the flow experience,though child's personality -extraversion,openess to experience, and conscientiousness. Functional personality traits have an important positive effect on optimal experience when they are considered as a unit.In the dysfunctional model of flow, the results showed that the child's perception of parental pathological control had an important positive effect on neuroticism and - thruoghthis- a negative effect on flow. The child's perception of parental negligence did not have a significanteffect on neuroticism: however, neuroticism still maintained its negative effect on flow.