Changes in Emotions from Childhood to Young Adulthood

Emotional well-being is particularly important in teenagers and young adults. Childhood and adolescence provide opportunities to develop the foundations for mental health and the school is an important mean that can enable it. It seems important to examine the evolution and differences in positive and negative emotions and experiences in adolescents and young adults in educational settings, which have received less interest in the literature. The main goal of this article (studies 2 and 3), is to explore the evolution and age and gender differences in children, adolescents and young adults and to assess on the short-term positive affects in the French school system. A second goal of this article is to assess the validity and reliability of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE, Diener et al. 2010) in French in order to reach our main goal. The SPANE was translated and then evaluated in a sample of 1999 students. Results show adequate psychometric properties of the French version. The results of the second and third studies show that positive emotions decline and negative emotions increase and that women experience on average more negative emotions and less positive emotions than men. The overall results highlight the importance of promoting well-being during adolescence.