Type and Breadth of High School Extracurricular Activity Involvement and Postsecondary Psychosocial Well-Being among Diverse Youth.

Many youth experience declines in psychosocial well-being during the transition from high school to postsecondary. Hypothesizing that extracurricular activity involvement in high school functions as a resource factor, the current study examines type and breadth as predictors of psychosocial well-being one year postsecondary. The sample (N = 4070) consisted of students from diverse ethnic-racial and socio-economic status backgrounds (30% Latinx; 60% had a parent without a college degree; 47% cisgender female). Eleventh grade involvement in sports was linked with lower loneliness, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and higher self-worth, whereas special interest clubs were associated with lower social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Examining breadth, one or two activities were linked with optimal psychosocial well-being. The results suggest that sports and special interest clubs, and up to two activity domains, are associated with optimal psychosocial well-being, providing recommendations for extracurricular programming and youth involvement.

The Longitudinal Influence of 10th Grade Extracurricular Activity Involvement: Implications for 12th Grade Academic Practices and Future Educational Attainment.

Although extracurricular activity involvement during high school is linked with positive academic outcomes, less is known about the longitudinal effects or the mediators of this association. The current investigation assessed the influence of 10th grade extracurricular activity involvement on educational attainment. The sample for this study (N = 11,720; 52.9% female) was drawn from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative, longitudinal investigation. Both breadth and intensity of extracurricular activity involvement in the 10th grade were linked with educational attainment eight years after high school. For breadth, the association was mediated by increased educational expectations in the 12th grade. The results are discussed in terms of the implications and importance of extracurricular activity involvement.

Friends in Activities, School-related Affect, and Academic Outcomes in Diverse Middle Schools.

Participating in school-based activities is linked to positive academic engagement and achievement, but less is known about how peer relationships within activities affect these outcomes. The current study examined friends in extracurricular activities as a predictor of academic outcomes in multiethnic middle schools in California. Specifically, the mediating role of school belonging, and interactions by ethnicity and type of activity, were examined in a sample including African American or Black, East or Southeast Asian, White, and Latino youth in extracurricular activities (N = 2268; Mage = 13.36 in eighth grade; 54% female). The results of multilevel mediational models suggested that school belonging mediated the link between friends in activities and academic outcomes, and these findings replicated across groups based on ethnicity and the type of activity in which one was involved in general. These results are discussed in terms of how activities can be structured to promote positive peer relations in ways that are linked with academic engagement and achievement.

Extracurricular Activities in Multiethnic Middle Schools: Ideal Context for Positive Intergroup Attitudes?

This study examined processes by which extracurricular participation is linked with positive ethnic intergroup attitudes in multiethnic middle schools in California. Specifically, the mediating roles of activity-related cross-ethnic friendships and social identities including alliances with multiple groups were examined in a sample including African American or Black, East or South-East Asian, White, and Latino youth (N = 1,446; Mage  = 11.60 in sixth grade). Results of multilevel modeling suggested that in addition to activity-related cross-ethnic friendships, complex social identities mediated the association between availability of cross-ethnic peers in activities and ethnic intergroup attitudes. Results are discussed in terms of how activities can be structured to promote cross-ethnic relationships and complex social identities, as well as positive ethnic intergroup attitudes.

Identification with Multiple Groups in Multiethnic Middle Schools: What Predicts Social Ingroup Overlap?

Self-definition becomes a central task during early adolescence, as youth identify with multiple social groups. Focusing on ethnic identification and identification with other salient social ingroups (e.g., those based on extracurricular activities), we examined predictors of perceived ingroup membership overlap among ethnically diverse adolescents (n = 1264; M age = 12.51; 53 % female). Social ingroup overlap remained relatively stable, but decreased, across the seventh to eighth grade. The number of cross-ethnic classmates in seventh grade predicted lower overlap in the eighth grade, and cross-ethnic friendships by eighth grade mediated this association. Findings underscore the opportunities provided by multiethnic middle schools for youth to connect and befriend one another across ethnic lines, as well as to foster divergent social identities that are associated with positive intergroup attitudes.

Social identity complexity, cross-ethnic friendships, and intergroup attitudes in urban middle schools.

This study investigated contextual antecedents (i.e., cross-ethnic peers and friends) and correlates (i.e., intergroup attitudes) of social identity complexity in seventh grade. Social identity complexity refers to the perceived overlap among social groups with which youth identify. Identifying mostly with out-of-school sports, religious affiliations, and peer crowds, the ethnically diverse sample (N = 622; Mage in seventh grade = 12.56) showed moderately high complexity. Social identity complexity mediated the link between cross-ethnic friendships and ethnic intergroup attitudes, but only when adolescents had a high proportion of cross-ethnic peers at school. Results are discussed in terms of how school diversity can promote complex social identities and positive intergroup attitudes.

Too much of a good thing? How breadth of extracurricular participation relates to school-related affect and academic outcomes during adolescence.

Although adolescents often participate in multiple extracurricular activities, little research has examined how the breadth of activities in which an adolescent is involved relates to school-related affect and academic performance. Relying on a large, multi-ethnic sample (N = 864; 55.9% female), the current study investigated linear and non-linear relationships of 11th grade activity participation in four activity domains (academic/leadership groups, arts activities, clubs, and sports) to adolescents' sense of belonging at school, academic engagement, and grade point average, contemporarily and in 12th grade. Results of multiple regression models revealed curvilinear relationships for sense of belonging at school in 11th and 12th grade, grade point average in 11th grade, and academic engagement in 12th grade. Adolescents who were moderately involved (i.e., in two domains) reported a greater sense of belonging at school in 11th and 12th grade, a higher grade point average in 11th grade, and greater academic engagement in 12th grade, relative to those who were more or less involved. Furthermore, adolescents' sense of belonging at school in 11th grade mediated the relationship of domain participation in 11th grade to academic engagement in 12th grade. This study suggests that involvement in a moderate number of activity domains promotes positive school-related affect and greater academic performance. School policy implications and recommendations are discussed.