The Role of Extracurricular Activity in Positive Youth Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between extracurricular activity participation and concurrent and longitudinal youth academic and psychosocial development in academically gifted youth. Extracurricular activity participation as a potential protective factor against the negative effects of life events, and the theoretical role of personality/activity fit as a determinant of positive developmental benefits in youth were also explored in this study. Secondary data analysis was conducted using data provided by two cohorts of middle school youth from a public magnet school in Philadelphia. After controlling for sociodemographic selection factors, Study 1 revealed that music was the only type of activity that was related to academic achievement. Time spent in music significantly contributed to predicting performance on reading, language, math and science standardized exams. Sport made significant negative contributions to predicting reading and language exam scores. These findings were limited by a ceiling effect caused by high mean scores on grade point average and standardized exams. Sport/dance was the only activity associated with well-being, significantly contributing to the prediction of positive affect. The results also revealed nonlinear associations between time spent in activities and standardized math scores, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and grit. The results of Study 2 revealed support for the protective role of activity participation on the negative academic and psychosocial impact of life events stress, which was a significant predictor of poorer adolescent outcomes across all of the domains. Accounting for the impact of life events, music positively predicted academic outcomes, and sport/dance positively predicted higher life satisfaction, positive affect, and self-esteem, and lower levels of negative affect. Finally, exploratory analyses revealed that youth participated in activities that appeared to be compatible with personality characteristics. For example, sport was associated with higher extraversion and music with higher openness to experience.