TY - JOUR
T1 - Extracurricular Participation and Course Performance in the Middle Grades
T2 - A Study of Low-Income, Urban Youth
AU - Schwartz, Kate
AU - Cappella, Elise
AU - Seidman, Edward
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Society for Community Research and Action.
Copyright:
Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/9/21
Y1 - 2015/9/21
N2 - The transition to middle/junior high school is associated with declines in students’ academic performance, especially among low-income, urban youth. Developmental psychologists posit such declines are due to a poor fit between the needs of early adolescents—industry, identity, and autonomy—and the environment of their new schools. Extracurricular participation during these years may act as a buffer for youth, providing a setting for development outside the classroom. The current study examines participation within and across activity settings among low-income, urban youth in New York City over this transition. Using the Adolescent Pathways Project data, this study explores how such participation relates to course performance. We find that a large percentage of youth are minimally or uninvolved in extracurricular activities during these years; that participation varies within youth across time; and that the association between participation and course performance varies by activity setting. Youth who participate frequently in community or athletic settings or have high participation in two or more settings are found to have higher GPAs in the year in which they participate and youth who participate frequently in the religious setting are found to have lower GPAs. High participation in more than two settings may be detrimental.
AB - The transition to middle/junior high school is associated with declines in students’ academic performance, especially among low-income, urban youth. Developmental psychologists posit such declines are due to a poor fit between the needs of early adolescents—industry, identity, and autonomy—and the environment of their new schools. Extracurricular participation during these years may act as a buffer for youth, providing a setting for development outside the classroom. The current study examines participation within and across activity settings among low-income, urban youth in New York City over this transition. Using the Adolescent Pathways Project data, this study explores how such participation relates to course performance. We find that a large percentage of youth are minimally or uninvolved in extracurricular activities during these years; that participation varies within youth across time; and that the association between participation and course performance varies by activity setting. Youth who participate frequently in community or athletic settings or have high participation in two or more settings are found to have higher GPAs in the year in which they participate and youth who participate frequently in the religious setting are found to have lower GPAs. High participation in more than two settings may be detrimental.
KW - Academic performance
KW - Early adolescents
KW - Extracurricular activities
KW - Low-income
KW - School transitions
KW - Urban
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947025910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84947025910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10464-015-9752-9
DO - 10.1007/s10464-015-9752-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 26391792
AN - SCOPUS:84947025910
VL - 56
SP - 307
EP - 320
JO - American Journal of Community Psychology
JF - American Journal of Community Psychology
SN - 0091-0562
IS - 3-4
ER -