Extracurricular Participation and Course Performance in the Middle Grades: A Study of Low-Income, Urban Youth

• Published in: American journal of community psychology Vol. 56; no. 3-4; pp. 307 - 320
• Main Authors: Schwartz, Kate, Cappella, Elise, Seidman, Edward
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2015; Blackwell Science Ltd
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Academic performance; Activities; Adolescent; Adolescents; African Americans; Autonomy; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Clinical Psychology; Community and Environmental Psychology; Early adolescents; Educational psychology; Educational Status; Ethnic Groups; Extracurricular activities; Female; Health Psychology; Humans; Identity; Income; Likelihood Functions; Longitudinal Studies; Low income groups; Low-income; Male; Middle school students; New York City; Original Article; Participation; Personality and Social Psychology; Poverty; Psychologists; Psychology; Public Health; Recreation - psychology; School environment; School transitions; Schools; Students; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Teenagers; Transitions; Urban; Urban areas; Urban Population; Urban poverty; Urban schools; Youth; Youth movements; New York City; New York; United States > US; School transitions; Urban; Extracurricular activities; Low-income; Academic performance; Early adolescents
• ISSN: 0091-0562; 1573-2770
• DOI: 10.1007/s10464-015-9752-9

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.