Motivation and academic achievement: the effects of personality traits and the quality of experience

"No Risk No Fun?": Determinants of Satisfaction with Life in People Who Engage in Extreme and High-Risk Sports

(1) Background: In this paper, we attempt to identify which personality and motivational variables significantly influence the sense of quality of life of individuals who practice extreme sports (ES) and high-risk sports (HRS). In addition, we examined to what extent these relationships are moderated by the athletes' gender and experience in a given discipline. (2) Methods: A total of 363 individuals who practice ES or who practice HRS took part in the study. All of the participants were from Poland. Standardized questionnaires were used to measure the investigated personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism), motives, and satisfaction with life, characteristic of the practiced sports. (3) Results: A positive relationship was observed between levels of extroversion and sense of satisfaction with life in the groups of women who engage in HRS (p = 0.045) and men who engage in ES (p = 0.002). The tendency towards addiction was significantly negatively associated with sense of satisfaction with life only in men who engage in ES (p = 0.015). Individuals who engage in ES and HRS did not differ in levels of tendency towards addiction. (4) Conclusions: Individuals who practice ES differ from individuals who practice HRS in terms of personality features, motivations, and the determinants of their sense of satisfaction with life.

Flow Experience and Emotional Well-Being among Italian Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Research highlighted the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' emotional well-being worldwide. In the attempt to identify resources which could facilitate adolescents' adjustment, this study examined the occurrence of flow experience and related activities, and the association between flow and emotional well-being among Italian teenagers. In Spring 2021, 150 students (40.7% girls) aged 15-19 completed instruments assessing flow and related activities before and during the pandemic, and current positive and negative affect. Findings revealed that only 24.7% of the participants currently reported flow; over half of those reporting flow before the pandemic did not experience it subsequently, and only 6.5% of those not reporting flow before the pandemic currently experienced it. Participants with flow both before and during the pandemic reported higher positive affect than teens who never experienced flow (p = .011), or lost it (p = .006). No group differences were detected for negative affect. Learning, structured leisure, and interpersonal relations were the domains most frequently associated with flow before and during the pandemic, but after the pandemic onset a reduction in the variety of flow activities and limited identification of new flow domains were observed. The association of flow with higher emotional well-being even in pandemic times suggests the potential usefulness of interventions promoting flow retrieval under adverse circumstances.

The Structure of Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation (IM) is key for persistence at work. When they are intrinsically motivated, people experience work activities as an end in itself, such that the activity and its goal collide. The result is increased interest and enjoyment of work activities. In this article, we review the current state of knowledge on IM, including studies within organizational, cognitive, and social psychology. We distinguish our structural perspective, which defines IM as the overlap between means and ends (e.g., the means-ends fusion model), from content-based approaches to study IM. We specifically discuss three questions: ( a) What is IM and why does it matter, ( b) how can individuals and organizations increase IM, and ( c) what biases and misconceptions do employees and managers hold about IM?

Personality, cognition, and university students' examination performance

A prospective study explored the relationship between personality traits (as defined by the five factor model), type of motivation (as defined by self‐determination theory), and goal‐specific cognitions (including those specified by the theory of planned behaviour) as antecedents of degree performance amongst undergraduate students. A sample of 125 students completed a questionnaire two to three months before their final examinations. Structural equation modelling was used to explore relationships. Intention and perceived behavioural control explained 32% of the variance in final degree marks, with intention being the strongest predictor. Controlling for theory of planned behaviour variables, anticipated regret, good‐student identity, controlled extrinsic motivation, Conscientiousness, and Openness had direct significant effects on intention. In total, 65% of the variance in intention was explained. The resultant model illustrates how personality traits may affect examination performance by means of mediators such as intention, anticipated regret, student identity, and autonomous intrinsic motivation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Your Personal Motivator is with You: A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Applications Aiming at Increasing Physical Activity

BACKGROUND

Literature shows mixed evidence about the power of mobile phone applications to foster physical activity. A systematic integration that offers insights into which mobile phone application techniques can or cannot foster physical activity is lacking, as is a theoretical integration of current research.

OBJECTIVES

We performed a systematic review guided by a theoretical framework focusing on effects that certain mobile phone application techniques have on physical activity, to improve our understanding of what techniques are more or less effective.

METHODS

We identified articles by searching EBSCO Business Source Complete, Science Direct, PsycINFO, Springer, PLoS ONE, Taylor and Francis, IEEE, Social Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, PUBMED, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. We considered articles if (1) they referred to the use of mobile phone applications to promote physical activity; (2) their methodological approach allowed one to derive appropriate results (e.g., intervention-based approach, observational study); (3) they were published in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings; and (4) they were written in English. The literature search resulted in 41 usable studies. Meta-synthesis and vote counting were applied to analyze these studies.

RESULTS

Based on the ratio of supportive versus non-supportive evidence in both the qualitative and the quantitative studies, we propose the following descending rank order for the effectiveness of application techniques to foster physical activity. This is tentative in nature because the current overall small body of literature made coming to definite conclusions difficult: (1) feedback, (2) goal setting and its sub-forms, (3) competition, social sharing with familiar users in both segregated and social network groups, and (4) social sharing with strangers in segregated groups, reward, and social sharing with strangers in social network groups. Rewards in particular provided mixed results, and social sharing with strangers in segregated and social network groups seemed rather ineffective but may work under special conditions that need to be identified in additional research. One limitation of our study was that our results are mostly derived from qualitative studies, since quantitative studies are underrepresented in the field.

CONCLUSION

Several mobile phone application techniques were identified that have the potential to foster physical activity, whereas others were identified that are unlikely to increase physical activity. Major avenues for future research include more theoretical development and more quantitative studies, among others.

The neural correlates of academic self-concept in adolescence and the relation to making future-oriented academic choices

This study examined the role of brain regions involved in academic self-evaluation in relation to problems with study orientation. For this purpose, 48 participants between ages 14-20 years evaluated themselves on academic traits sentences in an fMRI session. In addition, participants completed an orientation to study choice questionnaire, evaluated the importance of academic traits, and completed a reading and shortened IQ test as an index of cognitive performance. Behavioral results showed that academic self-evaluations were a more important predictor for problems with study orientation compared to subjective academic importance or academic performance. On a neural level, we found that individual differences in the positivity of academic self-evaluations were reflected in increased precuneus activity. Moreover, precuneus activity mediated the relation between academic self positivity and problems with study orientation. Together, these findings support the importance of studying academic self-concept and its neural correlates in the educational decision-making process.

The Role of Self-control and Grit in Domains of School Success in Students of Primary and Secondary School

Objective: Self-control and grit have become two of the most important variables that explain success in different aspects of people's daily life (Duckworth and Gross, 2014). Self-control promotes delayed gratification and directly influences thoughts, emotions, and impulses. On the other hand, grit enhances the achievement of goals through perseverance even before extreme external circumstances. Since both constructs are related, examining them together is compelling, as long as the different nuances that characterize each are taken into account. Two structural equation models (SEM) were conducted to observe the effect of self-control and grit on a more specific indicator of academic success (academic self-efficacy) and a more general indicator of school experience (satisfaction with school).

Methods: The first model comprises 5,681 primary students (M = 9.05; SD = 0.79), and the second 10,017 secondary students (M = 14.20; SD = 1.04) from Lima, Peru. In both models, the influence of grit and self-control on school satisfaction was observed when taking self-efficacy as a mediator variable.

Results: The results show that grit and self-control have strong associations in both primary and secondary students. When estimating the covariance of both constructs, grit is related with academic-self efficacy at both educational stages, but only to satisfaction with school in secondary students. On the contrary, self-control shows a significant relationship with school satisfaction only in primary education. In turn, self-efficacy shows a mediating effect between grit and school satisfaction. After calculating the invariance of the models, differences are observed by gender in the relationships between variables.

Conclusion: The results indicate that both constructs are strongly interrelated. Regarding the associations with the indicators of academic success, a need for timely interventions specific to each educational stage is observed.

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Quality of Experience in Learning

This study investigated learning activities and associated quality of experience of students with different levels of perceived academic self-efficacy. Two groups were formed out of 130 Italian adolescents (age 15-19), one with high and one with low academic self-efficacy beliefs (31 and 32 participants, respectively). Students provided valuation of academic pursuits and aspirations, and were monitored for one week with experience sampling method (ESM). Attention was paid to the association of learning activities with optimal experience, characterized by high perceived environmental challenges matched by high personal skills, involvement, concentration and intrinsic reward. High self-efficacy students reported higher academic aspirations and pursuits than low self-efficacy students. They also spent more time in homework, and primarily associated learning activities with optimal experience. Results have educational implications in fostering motivation and enjoyment in learning. They also provide empirical support for the combination of self-efficacy beliefs and quality of experience in motivational research.

Situational Strategies for Self-Control

Exercising self-control is often difficult, whether declining a drink in order to drive home safely, passing on the chocolate cake to stay on a diet, or ignoring text messages to finish reading an important paper. But enacting self-control is not always difficult, particularly when it takes the form of proactively choosing or changing situations in ways that weaken undesirable impulses or potentiate desirable ones. Examples of situational self-control include the partygoer who chooses a seat far from where drinks are being poured, the dieter who asks the waiter not to bring around the dessert cart, and the student who goes to the library without a cell phone. Using the process model of self-control, we argue that the full range of self-control strategies can be organized by considering the timeline of the developing tempting impulse. Because impulses tend to grow stronger over time, situational self-control strategies-which can nip a tempting impulse in the bud-may be especially effective in preventing undesirable action. Ironically, we may underappreciate situational self-control for the same reason it is so effective-namely, that by manipulating our circumstances to advantage, we are often able to minimize the in-the-moment experience of intrapsychic struggle typically associated with exercising self-control.

Achievement motives, self-efficacy, achievement goals, and academic achievement at multiple stages of education: a longitudinal analysis

The present study investigated the joint effects of achievement motives, self-efficacy, and achievement goals as predictors of subsequent academic achievement among educational science students. A longitudinal research design allowed for measurement of motivational variables at several stages of education during bachelor courses (subsequent to the introductory courses), firstly by measuring achievement motives, secondly by self-efficacy and achievement goals. Subsequently, students' academic achievement level was measured at four different points in time, until they finished the last course for their bachelor degrees. A multivariate path analysis showed consistent relations between the motivational variables. The motive to avoid failure positively predicted the adoption of avoidance goals (both mastery and performance) and negatively predicted self-efficacy. Academic achievement was mainly predicted by the motive for success and performance-avoidance goals. The path analysis also showed strong relationships between the examination grades at different points in time.

What No Child Left Behind Leaves Behind: The Roles of IQ and Self-Control in Predicting Standardized Achievement Test Scores and Report Card Grades

The increasing prominence of standardized testing to assess student learning motivated the current investigation. We propose that standardized achievement test scores assess competencies determined more by intelligence than by self-control, whereas report card grades assess competencies determined more by self-control than by intelligence. In particular, we suggest that intelligence helps students learn and solve problems independent of formal instruction, whereas self-control helps students study, complete homework, and behave positively in the classroom. Two longitudinal, prospective studies of middle school students support predictions from this model. In both samples, IQ predicted changes in standardized achievement test scores over time better than did self-control, whereas self-control predicted changes in report card grades over time better than did IQ. As expected, the effect of self-control on changes in report card grades was mediated in Study 2 by teacher ratings of homework completion and classroom conduct. In a third study, ratings of middle school teachers about the content and purpose of standardized achievement tests and report card grades were consistent with the proposed model. Implications for pedagogy and public policy are discussed.

Correlated longitudinal changes across linguistic, achievement, and psychomotor domains in early childhood: evidence for a global dimension of development

An important question within developmental psychology concerns the extent to which the maturational gains that children make across multiple diverse domains of functioning can be attributed to global (domain-general) developmental processes. The present study investigated this question by examining the extent to which individual differences in change across children's development in five different domains are correlated. Multivariate growth-curve models were fit to longitudinal data on linguistic, mathematics, reading, gross motor, and fine motor skills in 8950 children ranging in age from 44 to 86 months (3.7 years to 7.2 years). All five rates of change were positively intercorrelated. A common factor accounted for 42% of the individual differences in change. These results suggest that a global dimension underlies substantial proportions of cognitive and psychomotor development.

Self-control as predictor of school grades, life balance, and flow in adolescents

BACKGROUND

Recently, several studies have shown that strength of self-control is a crucial factor in determining positive outcomes in individuals' lives. Most attention has been directed to the relationships that self-control has with learning and academic achievement.

AIMS

This article analyses the effects of self-control not only on school grades but also on the experience of life balance and flow. It is theorized that students with a higher level of self-control are better able to distribute their time in a satisfying way over academic and leisure matters, and are better able to shield their studying against distractions.

SAMPLES

A total of 697 eighth graders with a mean age of 13.4 years participated in the longitudinal study.

METHOD

Students completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-control, school grades, subjective life balance, and flow while studying at the beginning and at the end of the school year. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationships between the constructs.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Results of cross-lagged analyses show that self-control predicted school grades, life balance, and flow. The findings suggest that self-control may assist adolescents to be better prepared, not only for school, but also for coordinating their investments in different areas of their lives.

Wohlbefindensforschung im Kindes- und Jugendalter

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Beitrag werden einführend die Konstrukte subjektives Wohlbefinden und gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität näher beleuchtet. Des Weiteren wird ein Überblick über Korrelate des Wohlbefindens gegeben. Unter Berücksichtigung der Entwicklungsdynamik sowie von Alters- und Geschlechtsunterschieden wird die Bedeutung sozialer Beziehungen für Wohlbefinden bzw. Wohlbefindensbeeinträchtigungen aufgezeigt. Thematisiert werden zudem Zusammenhänge zwischen dem sich entwickelnden Körperkonzept und dem Wohlbefinden. Auffällig ist die gesteigerte Unzufriedenheit mit Gewicht und Figur, die sich bei weiblichen Heranwachsenden zeigt. Auch im Zusammenhang mit Risikoverhaltensweisen wie Alkohol- und Nikotinkonsum, die gehäuft im Jugendalter in Erscheinung treten, werden Konsequenzen für das Wohlbefinden aufgezeigt. Abschließend werden entwicklungsbezogene Prinzipien vorgestellt, welche bezüglich der Erarbeitung von Präventions- und Gesundheitsförderungsmaßnahmen in Kindheit und Jugend Berücksichtigung finden sollten.

Comparison of the experience sampling method and questionnaires to assess visual activities in pre-teen and adolescent children

AIM

A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the experience sampling method (ESM) to quantify the daily visual tasks of children.

METHODS

Thirty-one children (9-14 years old, 39% male) were randomly paged after school (four times per day) and on weekends (eight times per day) for seven consecutive days. When paged, the children completed a voicemail survey regarding the nature, duration, working distance and type of visual correction worn during the activity. Responses of the subjects were grouped into 14 categories. Before beginning the paging, each child and one parent also reported, via survey, the number of hours and working distance for several visual activities.

RESULTS

The usable (complete voicemail responses) response rate was 87.1%. The most commonly reported activity category was watching television (17.8%). Other common responses included distance activities (12.5%), reading/studying (12.2%) and sports/outdoor activities (12.0%). Of the total number of responses, 25% were near work activities (reading/studying, computer use, near hobbies and playing Game Boy). The mean working distance (+/-S.D.) reported was 40.4 +/- 36.9 cm for reading/studying, 232.9 +/- 127.1 cm for watching television, 354.7 +/- 345.8 cm for distance activities and 438.5 +/- 421.0 cm for sports/outdoor activities. When comparing the ESM to surveys, the only significant difference was for the amount of time estimated to be spent in talking/conversation (p < 0.0001). No differences were found for any of the near work activities.

CONCLUSIONS

The ESM provides a feasible way to quantify daily near work tasks in children.

Job characteristics, flow, and performance: The moderating role of conscientiousness

The present article aims to show the importance of positive work-related experiences within occupational health psychology by examining the relationship between flow at work (i.e., absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation) and job performance. On the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that (a) motivating job characteristics are positively related to flow at work and (b) conscientiousness moderates the relationship between flow and other ratings of (in-role and out-of-role) performance. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 113 employees from several occupations. Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses generally supported the hypotheses. Motivating job characteristics were predictive of flow, and flow predicted in-role and extra-role performance, for only conscientious employees.

Using a diary to quantify learning activities

BACKGROUND

Diaries of actual learning activities can fill the gap between the planned curriculum and students' opinions and outcomes. We report the development and validity of such a method, estimate sources of variation and model sampling strategies to determine efficient ways to obtain information about a curriculum or about individual students.

METHODS

Following development and piloting, the diary was administered to fourth- and fifth-year medical students. Each student was asked to complete a diary on 3 randomly selected days of the academic year. Sources of variance and generalisability were determined using variance components analysis. Validity was explored by comparing activities with what is known about the curriculum, assessment, timetables and the 2 classes of students.

RESULTS

Response rate was 83% (287/345). Learning activities varied as expected with timing of assessments, and on weekdays compared with weekends. For most activities, 14 days per student would be needed to obtain generalisable information about an individual student. The variation between days is greater than the variation between students, meaning that sampling for information on a curriculum should include all students and all days of the year but the number of diaries per student could be kept low depending on the desired power to detect any differences.

CONCLUSION

Such an evaluation method is feasible and can provide reliable and valid information about study activities. Reasons for good compliance are discussed. Sampling strategies should be tailored to the purpose of the study.

A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships between personality traits and work values

Over 500 working individuals from 2 European countries (Great Britain and Greece) participated in a 2-study investigation into the relationships between the Big Five personality factors and individuals' work values. In Study 1 (N = 314), British employees completed the 60-item NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989) and the Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ; Mantech, 1983), which comprises 37 items measuring intrinsic (e.g., autonomy) and extrinsic (e.g., pay) work values. In Study 2 (N = 216), Greek employees completed a Greek language measure of the Big Five and a translated version of the WVQ. The authors observed a similar factor structure for the WVQ items in both studies. Personality traits, age, and gender explained between 5% and 13% of the variance in the WVQ subscales. As a result of the 2 studies, the authors concluded that there are robust associations between certain personality traits and work values, although they do not clearly follow the intrinsic vs. extrinsic distinction.

Use of the experience sampling method to measure nearwork

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to use the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to evaluate the daily visual activities of a group of optometry students and to determine whether the ESM could detect differences in visual activities when a difference was thought to exist.

METHODS

Sixty-two optometry students, at four different levels of training, at The Ohio State University College of Optometry were tested using the ESM during a 14-day period. A subgroup of 18 subjects in their fourth year of study was asked to repeat the 14-day ESM on a second occasion. The two ESM periods were specifically chosen at times when the subjects were expected to have markedly different nearwork profiles.

RESULTS

A comparison of members from the four optometry classes when the fourth-year students were taking final written examinations showed no significant differences in the proportion of nearwork among groups (p = 0.170); however, when the fourth-year students were primarily performing eye examinations during clinical rotations, there was a significant difference in the proportion of nearwork among training levels (13.8% for fourth-year students compared with 24.9%, 23.7%, and 30.4% for the other optometry classes; p = 0.0001). The percentage of time spent doing nearwork and performing eye examinations was significantly different between two ESM periods (paired t-test, p = 0.0001 for each activity).

CONCLUSIONS

The ESM is capable of detecting differences in the proportion of time spent doing nearwork and performing eye examinations among groups of optometry students in different levels of training with different daily visual demands and between two ESM periods when these activities were expected to differ. The ESM can be used as an alternative method for nearwork quantification in future studies.

Prospective quantification of near work using the experience sampling method

INTRODUCTION

The assessment of individuals' near work by survey methods is challenging. The feasibility of the Experience Sampling Method to quantify daily visual tasks was evaluated.

METHODS

Twenty-one subjects were randomly paged five times per day for 6 days. When paged, the subjects dialed into a telephone survey to report the nature, duration, and working distance of their visual activity at the time of the page.

RESULTS

The overall response rate was 81.3% (512/630 pages). The individual response rates varied from 6.7% to 100% (median, 86.7%). Responses were grouped into 11 categories/activities for ease of analysis. Of 506 responses, the most common activity category was "distance tasks," which included driving and walking (N = 92). Other common responses included computer use (N = 68), reading (N = 66), household tasks, e.g., cleaning, cooking, and showering (N = 64), and watching television (N = 61). Activities with a mean distance < or =26 inches (arm length) were combined as near-work responses and accounted for 54.3% (258/475) of all responses.

CONCLUSION

A modification of the Experience Sampling Method can be used to obtain a "real-time" sampling of visual activities.

MODELS OF CONCENTRATION IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH BASED ON STREAMS OF EXPERIENTIAL DATA

This paper investigates a prediction from flow theory according to which subjective feelings of concentration depend on the balance between perceived challenges posed by a task and one's perceived skills in mastering the task. The goal is to compare three different formalizations of balance (crossproduct, absolute difference, and quadratic effects of challenges and skills following a rotation of the predictor axes) with respect to how well each model predicts everyday life selfreports of feelings of concentration, which were obtained with the Experience Sampling Method from 208 talented high school students. Multilevel modeling with first-order autocorrelation structure is used throughout the model comparison. All models fitted reasonably well, accounting for nearly half of the variance. With reference to simple goodness-of-fit criteria, we conclude that both the rotated and the absolute difference models are to be preferred. Lastly, we discuss and compare the implications of the models for teaching, and outline extensions toward dynamic modeling and external modeling, by relating the subject specific effects of challenges and skills and of their balance with non-experiential variables such as personality traits and achievement measures.

The effect of perceived challenges and skills on the quality of subjective experience

This article investigates the effects that perceived challenges and skills in activities have on the quality of everyday life experience. Based on flow theory it was predicted that quality of daily experience would depend on the challenge experienced and skill required in specific situations, as well as on the balance between challenge and skill. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used on a sample of 208 talented adolescents to measure daily variations in four dimensions of experience (concentration, wish to do the activity, involvement, and happiness) in four contexts (in school, with relatives, with friends, and in solitude). The four dimensions of experience were regressed on the predictors challenges, skills, and their absolute difference expressing the balance/imbalance of challenges and skills. Hierarchical linear modeling, explained in detail herein, was conducted on a 1-week sample of experiences. Findings confirm the prediction of flow theory that the balance of challenges and skills has a positive and independent effect on the quality of experience. Yet some differences of parameter estimates were found between dimensions of experience and between social contexts. These heterogeneities call for a further improvement of the flow model.

Statistical issues in the study of temporal data: daily experiences

This article reviews statistical issues that arise in temporal data, particularly with respect to daily experience data. Issues related to nonindependence of observations, the nature of data structures, and claims of causality are considered. Through the analysis of data from a single subject, we illustrate concomitant time-series analysis, a general method of examining relationships between two or more series having 50 or more observations. We also discuss detection of and remedies for the problems of trend, cycles, and serial dependency that frequently plague temporal data, and present methods of combining the results of concomitant time series across subjects. Issues that arise in pooling cross-sectional and time-series data and statistical models for addressing these issues are considered for the case in which there are appreciably fewer than 50 observations and a moderate number of subjects. We discuss the possibility of using structural equation modeling to analyze data structures in which there are a large number (e.g., 200) of subjects, but relatively few time points, emphasizing the different causal status of synchronous and lagged effects and the types of models that can be specified for longitudinal data structures. Our conclusion highlights some of the issues raised by temporal data for statistical models, notably the important roles of substantive theory, the question being addressed, the properties of the data, and the assumptions underlying each technique in determining the optimal approach to statistical analysis.

Measuring daily events and experiences: decisions for the researcher

There has been a burgeoning interest in studying daily events and experiences. This article discusses a variety of methodologic challenges that face daily event and experience researchers. The issues discussed include techniques for measuring events, the development of event checklists, sampling event content, specifying event appraisals, event validation procedures, and the creation of summary measures derived from event checklists. Procedural issues discussed include determining the number of observations and persons needed for daily event studies, the evaluation of response, attrition, and missing item bias, and problems linking event reports over time.