MARTA BASSI and ANTONELLA DELLE FAVE ADOLESCENCE AND THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE IN TIME: ITALY 1986–2000 w ABSTRACT. This study focused on the daily activities and related quality of experience of two distinct groups of Italian high school students analyzed in 1986 and 2000. Altogether, 120 participants, aged between 15 and 18, were administered the experience sampling method, a procedure providing on-line repeated samplings of daily time budget and associated quality of experience. In particular, attention was paid to optimal experience, characterized by a balance between environmental challenges and personal skills, intrinsic moti- vation, involvement, and well-being. In spite of the time gap, no major dif- ferences in the daily activity distribution were detected. Adolescents in both groups spent most of their time studying at school and at home, interacting, watching TV, carrying out maintenance, and engaging in structured leisure activities. The use of new technologies (computers, Internet, mobile phones) emerged in the data gathered in 2000. As concerns the quality of experience, each daily activity showed a specific experiential profile recurring in both groups. Studying at home and engaging in structured leisure activities were primarily associated with optimal experience, as was using new technologies in 2000. These results shed light on students’ preferential engagement in specific domains and allowed us to explore the active role of adolescents in shaping their future. Findings also highlighted the importance of providing adolescents with meaningful activities in order to foster their personal growth, well-being, and social integration. KEY WORDS: adolescence, new technology, optimal experience, time budget. In our Western post-modern society, cultural changes take place at a much faster rate than ever before, and a broader spectrum of opportunities for action and self-expression is available to youth. The development of new technologies has provided new means of communication within and across nations and cultures (Fragnito, 1995; LaFerle et al., 2000); it has opened up new domains of w This work is based on a paper presented at the VIIth European Congress of Psychology, London, 1–6 July 2001. Journal of Happiness Studies 5: 155–179, 2004. Ó 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.