Title: Participation in Structured School Activities: Relations to Social Competence Among InnerCity Canadi
1Participation in Structured School Activities
Relations to Social Competence Among Inner-City
Canadian Early Adolescents
Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl Denise Buote
University of British Columbia
- Background and Relevance
- Recent years have witnessed a growing portion
of children experiencing a myriad of
social-emotional problems that interfere with
their successful adjustment (Greenberg et al.,
2001). The construct of resilience is used to
account for a child's capacity to develop well
despite life conditions of significant risk
(Luthar Cicchetti, 2001), and while researchers
have spent the last decades delimiting factors
associated with resiliency, one neglected area of
this research has been the role of school
activities in fostering early adolescents
competence. Participation in activities can
provide opportunities to develop not only more
positive feelings about self and school, such
participation can provide the impetus for the
development of other important social cognitive
skills. - Much of the extant research has examined the
relation of activity participation to
academic/psychological adjustment in populations
of high school adolescents. A general finding is
that participation in extracurricular activities
is generally associated with better adjustment
(Connor Schonert-Reichl, 2001 Eccles Barber,
1999 Mahoney et al., 2002, 2003 Schonert et
al., 1991). Few studies, however, have documented
correlates of activity participation among
elementary children, and much of this work has
focused on White, middle-class children in the
U.S. In the present study, we extend the
investigation of activity participation by
examining associations between early adolescents
involvement in school activities and their
school/academic, behavioral, and psychological
functioning. In this paper, we hope to extend
earlier work by (a) examining relations of
activity participation to dimensions of social
competence not examined in earlier studies in a
sample of urban early adolescents in an
elementary school in Canada, and (b) exploring
the ways in which the types of activity
participation are associated with indices of
adjustment. - Participants
- 238 4th-6th grade early adolescents attending an
inner-city school in a large Western Canadian
city (52 female) - 48 first language English, 30 Chinese, 22
other - Low to middle income families, 70 in two-parent
homes - 98 of eligible children participated
- Measures
- School/Academic Dimensions
- School Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998), School
Belonging (Roeser et al., 1996), Personal
Achievement Goals (Roeser et al., 1996), Academic
Achievement (teacher rating, 1 to 5) - Behavioral Dimensions
- Self-ratings of Prosocial Behaviors (Bandura et
al., 1996), Teacher Ratings of Behavior Problems
and Social Competence (TCRS Hightower et al.,
1986) - Socio-Emotional Dimensions
- General Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998),
Prosocial Goals Social Responsibility (Wentzel,
1994), Perspective-Taking Empathy (Davis, 1983) - Participation in School Related Activities
- Activity checklist to indicate all activities
registered in during the 2002-2003 school year.
School participation was coded dichotomously,
with 1 participation in an activity (n 204),
and 0 no participation (n 34). -
Sample of School Activities Harry Potter I
II Yummy treats and sweets Babysitters
course Kids First Funky Hip Hop Girls
Club Tae Kwon Do Indoor hockey Computer
Club Basketball Peer Helpers Gym
Jam Student Council French tutoring Swim
Club Chess Lights, Camera,
Action Soccer Piano lessons Skateboarding
Beading/Jewelry Origami Ocean
Life Clayworks Discussion Overall, the
findings from the present study replicate and
extend the extant research examining the ways in
which participation in structured school
activities is related to adolescents adjustment.
Most notably, results from the present study
extend previous findings by demonstrating the
significance of extracurricular participation
among early adolescents in elementary school.
Early adolescents who participated in structured
school activities, in contrast to those who did
not participate, evidenced higher levels of
school self-concept, general self-concept,
self-reported prosocial behaviors,
perspective-taking, school belonging, and
teacher-rated social competence. Additionally,
for each gender, the type of activity
participation was related to dimensions of
school/academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional
adjustment in important ways. Of course, it must
be acknowledged that this results should be
interpreted cautiously. Because the study was
correlational rather than longitudinal, firm
conclusions about the effects of participation on
early adolescents adjustment cannot be drawn.
Clearly, future research is needed. Selected
References Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C.,
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Maryland. ? Email Communication
kimberly.schonert-reichl_at_ubc.ca
RESEARCH QUESTIONS RESULTS 1.Do early
adolescents who participate in school-related
activities differ from those children who do not
on dimensions of school/academic, behavioral, and
socio-emotional adjustment? To answer these
questions, we conducted a series of 2 (gender) X
2 (grade) univariate analyses of
variance.
2.What is the relation of the
nature of activity participation to early
adolescent boys and girls adjustment? To
answer this question, partial correlations
(controlling for grade) were computed.
School Belonging
p lt .05. p lt .01.