Participation in extracurricular activities and emotional and behavioral adjustment in middle childhood in Spanish Boys and Girls

A R T I C L E

PARTICIPATION INEXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIESAND EMOTIONAL ANDBEHAVIORAL ADJUSTMENTIN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD INSPANISH BOYS AND GIRLS

Beatriz MolinuevoDepartment of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute ofNeurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Albert BonilloDepartment of Psychobiology and Methodology of Health Sciences,Autonomous University of Barcelona

Yolanda PardoDepartment of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute ofNeurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Eduardo DovalDepartment of Psychobiology and Methodology of Health Sciences,Autonomous University of Barcelona

Rafael TorrubiaDepartment of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute ofNeurosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona

This study examined the concurrent relationship between participation inextracurricular activities and externalizing and internalizing problemsand social school behavior in a Spanish community sample, separately forboys (n 5 439) and girls (n 5 428), enrolled in 2nd, 4th, or 6th grades.Weekly participation in extracurricular activities was related to better

This work was supported by the Jaume Bofill Foundation. We thank the parents and teachers whoparticipated in the project.Correspondence to: Beatriz Molinuevo, Unitat de Psicologia Medica, Departament de Psiquiatria i MedicinaLegal, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra, s/n, 08193Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain. E-mail: [email protected]

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 38, No. 7, 842–857 (2010)

View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com.

& 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20399

emotional and behavioral adjustment and social competence. Overall, therelations were low and different according to gender, type of activity, andinformant. Better adjustment was more related to participation in sportsactivities in boys and to participation in nonsports activities in girls. Sizeeffect was higher for girls and decreased for both boys and girls whenparental education and parenting practices were considered. Findingssupported previous results obtained in American adolescents. �C 2010Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A growing interest in how children and adolescents spend their time after school andits effects on emotional, social, and cognitive development has emerged (Jordan &Nettles, 2000). Their daily routines have been altered, the variety of after-school carehas increased, playing settings have changed, and the emergence of new communica-tion and information technologies has impacted their habits. Time after school hasturned into a challenge for parents because of difficulties in reconciling work andfamily life. Thus, an analysis of how this time is used can provide an overview of thedaily socialization experiences and developmental opportunities of children andadolescents (Larson, 2001). Contexts in which interactions take place can promotewelfare and mental health or, conversely, represent a threat to healthy development.Empirical studies suggest that the degree of supervision of after-school hours isrelevant for understanding development; spending time in nonstructured andunsupervised activities promotes opportunities for young people to adopt antisocialnorms and values and to be involved in risky activities (Flannery, Williams, & Vazsonyi,1999). Also, structured time has been regarded as a potential source of benefits forchildren and youth (Cooper, Valentine, Nye, & Lindsay, 1999); structured extra-curricular activities have been seen to be more beneficial for development than othertypes of care after school (National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentEarly Child Care Research Network, 2004).

The theoretically promising results of extracurricular activities, together with theirgrowing popularity for reconciling work and family life, have motivated the interest inknowing their impact on different development areas. It has been argued thatextracurricular activities can promote positive development for several reasons: theyare voluntary supervised and structured, they provide a setting to acquire and practicespecific skills, and, finally, they facilitate supportive social networks of peers and adults.It has been assumed that extracurricular activities prepare for adulthood and provideresources that are not typically acquired at school, such as initiative, motivation,relationships with nonfamilial adults, and multicultural competence (Larson et al.,2004). Though extracurricular activities are common in a majority of boys and girls, aconsiderable number of them don’t take part in them, which could place them at adisadvantage and put them at risk of emotional and behavioral problems (e.g., feweropportunities to engage in prosocial interactions with peers). So, if these benefits canbe confirmed, these activities could be conceptualized as protective factors for theprevention of psychopathology and the promotion of mental health and be integratedin future health, education, and family policies.

At present, existing research in extracurricular activities comes mainly fromPositive Youth Development and educational psychology approaches and has beencarried out mostly with adolescents (Gilman, Meyers, & Perez, 2004). Researchers haveexamined the relationship with academic achievement (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith,

Participation in Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Behavioral � 843

Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop

2005; Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 1999; Feldman & Matjasko, 2007), early drop out(Mahoney & Cairns, 1997; McNeal, 1995), attitudes towards school (Gilman, 2001),academic aspirations and occupational outcomes (Mahoney, Cairns, & Farmer, 2003),and teachers’ academic expectancies (van Matre, Valentine, & Cooper, 2000). Overall,results suggest that involvement in these activities could be beneficial to academicoutcomes. Nevertheless, results about academic achievement are not clear. Althoughsome studies found no significant relations between practicing sports and academicperformance, others did when considering other categories of activities. It seems thatthe type of activity can have a bearing on these relations. There is a need, therefore, forfurther examination.

Research on extracurricular activities in mental health in adolescents is, however,less developed. Some studies have examined a potential protective role for riskbehaviors such as antisocial behavior (Burton & Marshall, 2005; Mahoney, 2000) anddrug use (Cooley, Henriksen, Nelson, & Thompson, 1995). Others have assessed theimpact of activities on internalizing and externalizing problems (Bohnert & Garber,2007; Fletcher, Nickerson, & Wright, 2003; Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001; Randall &Bohnert, 2009) and have found mixed results. Data obtained are inconclusive anddifficult to compare mainly due to the small number of studies and the diversity ofmental health measures used, the source of information considered, and theconfounding variables tested.

Crosscultural studies have shown different activity patterns in after-school time(Newman et al., 2007). However, to our knowledge, research about relations betweenextracurricular activities and mental health has been conducted only with Americansamples. As extracurricular activities have a singular cultural connotation, thepossibility to generalize to other populations is limited. Also, studies have beenpreferably aimed at youth. However, as Denault and Poulin (2009) suggested,participation in early adolescence to mid-adolescence may be a good indicator or apositive development trajectory thought adolescence; they found a significantrelationship between participation during early adolescence to mid-adolescence andoutcomes later in adolescence. In addition, both psychiatric disorders and participa-tion in extracurricular activities are prevalent in younger populations, as well andtypes of activities and time spent on them differ according to age. Furthermore, moststudies have not differentiated by gender, despite the fact that externalizingand internalizing symptoms (Crick & Zahn-Waxler, 2003) and participation inextracurricular activities (Feldman & Matjasko, 2007) have been shown to be linkedto gender.

On the whole, the literature on extracurricular activities shows positive relations toacademic adjustment in American adolescents. However, less is known about the typeand size of association in younger populations and the association with emotional andbehavioral adjustment. Fletcher et al. (2003) provided promising results with fourth-grade children, but the sample size was small and they consider preliminary data.Moreover, not all the studies have taken into account relevant variables for the positivedevelopment of children and adolescents that could influence in the association, suchas parental education and parenting practices (Shelton, Frick, & Wootton, 1996).However, those who have considered demographic control variables have found adecreased effect of extracurricular activities. In spite of the gender differences inparticipation in these activities, the extent to which there can be a differentiatedgender pattern of relation with adjustment outcomes is unknown. In addition, to date,no studies have tested the relationship in other places such as Europe.

844 � Journal of Community Psychology, September 2010


In sum, the main goals of this study were as follows: (a) to examine, separately forboys and girls, to what extent weekly participation in structured extracurricularactivities is related to the internalizing and externalizing problems and social schoolbehavior of boys and girls between 6 and 12 years old in a large Spanish sample; and(b) test if associations were maintained after taking into account control variables suchas parental education and parenting practices. According to prior studies (Bohnert &Garber, 2007), we predicted that participation in extracurricular activities would bepositively associated with better emotional and behavioral adjustment. We expectedthat results found in American adolescents could be extrapolated to youngerEuropean boys and girls, as out-of-school time is a shared concern and initiatives formanaging it have emerged around developed countries. We also predicted that therelations would be different according to gender (Sagatun, Sogaard, Bjertness, Selmer,& Heyerdahl, 2007). In addition, we expected that family variables would reduce theassociations as in previous studies (Fauth, Roth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2007). Severalrecommendations have been addressed as follows: separating sports activities fromnonsports activities and considering more than one informant while measuringadjustment in children.

METHOD

Participants

The target population of the study included families living in Catalonia (Spain) with atleast one child studying primary education. Access to families was made through schools.A stratified multistage sampling was designed considering territory, population, andtype of school. The first units of analyses were schools, and the final ones were boys andgirls and their families. A total of 942 families were recruited, 75 of which were excludedbecause of having lived less than 1 year in Catalonia (n 5 3), having spent less than a yearas a student of the teacher who provided the information (n 5 1), incompleteinformation about extracurricular activities (n 5 64), and more than three standarddeviations of time spent in extracurricular activities (n 5 7). The final sample comprised867 families with at least one child enrolled in the 2nd, 4th, or 6th grade in state(n 5 142) or state-assisted (n 5 45) schools. Gender distribution was similar, 50.6% boys(439) and 49.9% girls (428). Demographic information is presented in Table 1.

Measures

Extracurricular activities. Structured activities considered were dance, sports, languages,computers, music, psychomotor activity, church/catechesis, workshops (e.g., drama,plastic arts, and cooking), and organized leisure centers. Parents responded if the childpracticed any of the activities at least once a week at the moment of the study. Eachactivity received a score of 1 ( participation) or 0 (no participation). They were groupedinto two mutually exclusive predetermined categories, nonsports and sports, followingprevious studies that argue for separating sports (Darling et al., 2005; Feldman &Matjasko, 2007; McNeal, 1995). Dance was included in the nonsports category.

Internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ; Goodman, 1997) is a brief rating instrument that assesses positive and negative



behavioral aspects of children and adolescents from 4 to 16 years old. It comprises 25items distributed on 5 subscales of 5 items each: Emotional Symptoms, ConductProblems, Hyperactivity, Peer Problems, and Prosocial Behavior. Each item is scoredon a 3-point scale, 0 (not true), 1 (somewhat true), and 2 (certainly true). Higher scores onthe prosocial behavior subscale reflect strength, whereas in the other four subscales,they reflect difficulties. Excluding the prosocial behavior subscale, a total difficultiesscore can also be computed by summing the scores on the four remaining subscales. Asversions are available for parents and teachers, in this study, we considered both. TheSDQ has been translated into more than 40 languages, one of them being Catalan (seewww.sdqinfo.com). It has been used in Spain for different purposes and it has shownadequate psychometric properties (Hamilton, Pithon, & Simoes, 2004). The internalconsistencies (Cronbach’s a) were as follows: .79 and .84 for the total difficulties scorefor parents and teachers, respectively; .55 and .61 for emotional symptoms; .56 and.71 for conduct problems; .74 and .82 for hyperactivity; .49 and .61 for peer problems;and .57 and .79 for prosocial behavior. Prior studies have shown higher internalconsistency in teachers compared with parents (Goodman, 2001).

Social competence. The School Social Behavior Scales, Second Edition (SSBS-2; Merrell,2002), is a behavior rating scale used to assess social competence and antisocialbehavior of individuals aged 5 to 18 years across school. It comprises 64 items in twomajor scales, the Social Competence (Scale A) and the Antisocial Behavior (Scale B).Items are scored by teachers. In this study we used Scale A, which describes adaptativeor positive behaviors that are likely to lead to positive personal and social outcomes forstudents. It comprises 32 items and is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale, referring to

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Sample

Characteristics Boys (N 5 439) Girls (N 5 428)

Age

Mean 9.63 9.67Standard deviation (1.67) (1.63)Spanish origin children (%) 91.10 88.55

Family type (%)

Nuclear 81.3 78.0Single parent 9.1 12.2Extended 6.2 4.9Reconstituted 3.4 4.9Monthly family income (%)

600 h 0.7 1.0600.01h–1800h 32.2 32.31800.01h–3000h 39.9 39.543000h 27.2 27.2

Parental level of education (%) Father Mother Father Mother

None or unfinished primary school 4.0 2.8 5.0 4.5Compulsory secondary completed 19.5 18.3 19.4 19.0High school graduate 43.8 41.5 35.1 38.1College/university graduate 32.8 37.4 40.6 38.3



the last 3 months, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 ( frequently). It comprises three subscales:(a) Peer relations (14 items); (b) Self-Management/Compliance (10 items); and (c)Academic Behavior (8 items). Teachers’ a reliabilities ranged from .93 to .97.

Parenting practices. The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ; Shelton et al., 1996) isa 42-item instrument that taps the dimensions of parenting practices, which have beenassociated with risk for conduct problems in children. It is aimed at assessing 6-year-old to 13-year-old children and their parents. Items are scored from 1 (never) to5 (always), representing the ‘‘typical’’ frequency with which the parenting behavior isexhibited in the home. It comprises five scales: Involvement (10 items); PositiveParenting (6 items); Poor Monitoring/Supervision (10 items); Inconsistent Discipline(6 items); and Corporal Punishment (3 items). Also included are seven additional itemsmeasuring other discipline practices. The APQ has a multimethod (self-report andtelephone interview) and multi-informant (parent and child) perspective. In the childform, the Involvement scale has two parallel forms that differentiate mothers andfathers. In this study, the parents’ version and the self-report method were considered.Two variables were computed: positive parenting practices (positive scales) and negativeparenting practices (negative scales). High scores in positive practices are indicative ofeffective parenting and in the negative ones are indicative of ineffective parenting.Cronbach’s a for the positive index was .76 and .60 for the negative one.

Procedure

Territories were segmented considering four categories: (a) more than 500,000inhabitants; (b) between 500,000 and 50,000; (c) between 50,000 and 5,000; (d) andfewer than 5,000 inhabitants. Schools were selected randomly. A letter was sent to theschools to introduce the project and request their collaboration. The schools sent theparents a letter and requested their confirmation of participation. It was estimated that1,000 families were an adequate measure of the sample. With the assumption ofmaximum indetermination ( p 5 q 5 .5) and a confidence level of 95.5%, the samplingerror was 73.19%.

As a Catalan version of the SSBS-2 was not available, forward-translations by theauthors and back-translations by an independent translator were used. A pilot studywas conducted with 50 families. To examine the reliability of collected data, telephonecalls were made to 20% of households that had participated and very specific aspectswere asked about. More than 97% of families provided congruent information.

All analyses were performed with the statistical program SPSS for Windows,version 15.0.

RESULTS

First, the frequency distribution of participation of boys and girls in eachextracurricular activity was examined and a w2 test was performed. Results revealedthat children’s participation differed between boys and girls in four of the ninecategories of activities considered. More specifically, it was more common that girlsparticipated in dance, workshops, and music than boys: dance, 18.80% versus 3.79%,w2(1) 5 47.25, po.001; workshops, 41.53% versus 10.46%, w2(1) 5 41.53, po.001;music, 27.29% versus 20.99%, w2(1) 5 4.55, po.05. Similarly, participation inlanguages also revealed this trend without reaching statistical significance (28.98%



vs. 23.19%). However, in sports, the tendency was reversed, with considerably moreboys (83.37%) than girls (59.11%) practicing them weekly, w2(1) 5 62.45, po.001.Activities such as computers, psychomotor activity, church/catechesis, and organizedleisure centers did not show gender differences. Grouping all the nonsports activities,64.91% of boys practiced them at least once a week compared with 79.01% of girls. Asexpected, the difference was statistically significant, w2(1) 5 21.14, po.001.

The relationship between extracurricular activities and emotional and behavioraladjustment was examined by conducting Student’s t test for independent samples oneach SDQ and SSBS-2 scale, and the two global categories of participation inextracurricular activities (nonsports and sports) were used as criterion variables(Tables 2 and 3). Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was conducted.A p value of less than .004 (.05/12) was required for significance. For boys, those whoparticipated in nonsport activities presented fewer peer problems and fewer totaldifficulties according to parents. However, statistical significant differences were notfound after Bonferroni corrections. With regard to sports activities, significantdifferences in peer problems and total difficulties were still recognized afterBonferroni adjustment. As expected, boys who participated weekly in sports presentedfewer peer problems and fewer total difficulties according to parents. No statisticaldifferences were found according to teachers. It is worth nothing that although thedifference did not reach significance taking into account the Bonferroni criterion,those boys who did not participate in sports presented more emotional problems thanthose who did, according to both informants. There were no statistically significantdifferences in other adjustment scales but directions were as expected.

For girls, the association between extracurricular activities and SDQ scores washigher than boys, more dimensions were related, and the size effect tended to begreater. Those girls involved in nonsports activities showed fewer emotional and peerproblems, and fewer total difficulties irrespective of informant once Bonferronicorrection was considered. In addition, according to parents, they presented fewerhyperactivity symptoms. In the case of teachers, difference in hyperactivity almostreached significance after Bonferroni correction. In other scales, tendencies in theexpected direction were appreciated. Girls who participated in nonsports activitiestended to present fewer peer problems and fewer conduct problems. With regard tosports activities, statistical differences disappeared once Bonferroni adjustment wasapplied. For parents, a trend in the expected direction was appreciated forhyperactivity and total difficulties and in teachers for emotional symptoms andhyperactivity. No differences were found in other scales. Prosocial behavior was theonly adjustment dimension not related with participation in extracurricular activities.

t-test results of SSBS-2 scores indicated that participation in nonsports activitieswas significantly associated with increased school social competence, especially forgirls. In boys, statistical significant differences disappeared applying Bonferronicriterion. However, tendencies were in the expected direction. Boys that parti-cipated in nonsports activities tended to have better peer relations ( p 5 .011) and,in general, higher school social competence ( p 5 .026), and those who participated insports tended to present better peer relations ( p 5 .013). In girls, differences innonsports activities after Bonferroni adjustment were found. Those who parti-cipated showed better peer relations, self-management/compliance, and, overall, moreschool social competence. We can also appreciate a trend in the way expected foracademic behavior ( p 5 .011). However, in relation to sports activities, no differenceswere found.



A series of hierarchical regressions analyses was conducted to determine whetherthe bivariate relationships between participation in extracurricular activities andemotional and behavioral adjustment remained after including control variables. Thevariables of parental education and positive and negative parenting practices wereentered as control variables together and in this order in a first step of the regressionanalyses. The independent variable of interest, participation in nonsports activities orparticipation in sports activities, was entered in the second step. Separate analyses wereconducted using each scale of adjustment that had previously shown significant

Table 2. Mean Differences in Adjustment by Participation in Extracurricular Activities for Boys

Participation (nonsports) Participation (sports)

No Yes No Yes

Subscale M (SD) M (SD) t (p) M (SD) M (SD) t (p)

SDQ parentsEmotional symptoms 2.86 2.63 1.20 3.24 2.61 2.51

(1.82) (1.98) (.229) (1.82) (1.94) (.013)Conduct problems 2.26 2.04 1.24 2.48 2.06 1.92

(1.73) (1.71) (.217) (1.95) (1.67) (.056)Hyperactivity 4.35 3.95 1.61 4.44 4.02 1.31

(2.53) (2.48) (.109) (2.64) (2.47) (.193)Peer problems 2.02 1.54 2.91 2.27 1.61 3.12�

(1.79) (1.57) (.004) (1.78) (1.63) (.002)Prosocial behavior 8.03 8.02 0.05 8.10 8.01 0.38

(1.71) (1.66) (.964) (1.62) (1.69) (.702)Total difficulties 11.48 10.16 2.40 12.44 10.30 3.03�

(5.44) (5.49) (.017) (5.57) (5.44) (.003)SDQ teachers

Emotional symptoms 1.75 1.65 0.54 2.21 1.59 2.74(1.86) (1.72) (.589) (1.72) (1.76) (.006)

Conduct problems 1.64 1.45 1.03 1.39 1.54 0.65(1.97) (1.75) (.304) (1.77) (1.84) (.516)

Hyperactivity 3.38 3.05 1.28 3.63 3.08 1.62(2.55) (2.62) (.203) (2.93) (2.52) (.106)

Peer problems 1.82 1.64 1.00 2.03 1.63 1.77(1.84) (1.70) (.318) (1.60) (1.76) (.077)

Prosocial behavior 6.81 6.99 �0.81 6.75 6.96 �0.74(2.11) (2.20) (.416) (2.05) (1.91) (.463)

Total difficulties 8.58 7.77 1.32 9.25 7.84 1.83(6.32) (5.81) (.184) (6.24) (5.92) (.068)

SSBS-2 teachersPeer relations 49.40 52.05 �2.54 48.38 51.68 �2.48

(10.57) (10.30) (.012) (10.98) (10.24) (.013)Self-management/compliance 37.16 38.51 �1.56 37.49 38.14 �0.59

(8.95) (8.49) (.126) (8.77) (8.63) (.557)Academic behavior 29.98 31.25 �1.73 29.52 31.06 �1.64

(7.24) (7.42) (.085) (7.67) (7.27) (.102)Social competence 116.54 121.81 �2.24 115.40 120.89 �1.83

(23.80) (23.30) (.026) (24.33) (23.27) (.068)

Note. M 5 mean; SD 5 standard deviation; SDQ 5 Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SSBS-2 5 School SocialBehavior Scales, second version.�po.004 (Bonferroni correction).



relationship in the bivariate analyses, without taking into account Bonferronicorrection, as dependent variable (Table 4).

In general, results corroborate a positive effect of extracurricular activitiesparticipation on adjustment outcomes. For boys, participation in sports activitiespredicted fewer peer problems according to parents and less emotional symptomsaccording to teachers. No significant effect was found in total difficulties index. Forgirls, participation in nonsports extracurricular activities predicted less emotionalsymptoms and, in general, fewer difficulties according to both informants parents and

Table 3. Mean Differences in Adjustment by Participation in Extracurricular Activities for Girls


No Yes No Yes

Subscale M (SD) M (SD) t (p) M (SD) M (SD) t (p)

SDQ parentsEmotional symptoms 3.12 2.25 3.43� 2.56 2.35 1.08

(2.28) (1.86) (.001) (2.07) (1.87) (.281)Conduct problems 1.84 1.45 2.21 1.71 1.43 1.93

(1.52) (1.47) (.028) (1.54) (1.45) (.054)Hyperactivity 4.10 3.20 3.08� 3.73 3.17 2.31

(2.55) (2.44) (.002) (2.57) (2.40) (.022)Peer problems 2.05 1.57 2.46 1.83 1.58 1.55

(1.86) (1.53) (.014) (1.75) (1.51) (.122)Prosocial behavior 8.73 8.56 1.40 8.63 8.56 0.48

(1.30) (1.42) (.301) (1.45) (1.35) (.632)Total difficulties 11.09 8.47 3.93� 9.83 8.51 2.36

(5.98) (5.43) (.001) (5.94) (5.39) (.019)SDQ teachers

Emotional symptoms 1.96 1.37 3.21� 1.70 1.35 2.34(1.65) (1.50) (.001) (1.73) (1.39) (.025)

Conduct problems 1.06 0.78 1.73 0.87 0.83 0.36(1.64) (1.25) (.084) (1.30) (1.40) (.715)

Hyperactivity 2.87 2.09 2.76 2.55 2.06 2.11(2.68) (2.25) (.006) (2.39) (2.31) (.037)

Peer problems 1.88 1.40 2.46 1.45 1.54 �0.61(1.88) (1.54) (.014) (1.71) (1.57) (.551)

Prosocial behavior 7.63 8.06 �1.78 8.05 7.93 0.65(2.12) (1.77) (.078) (1.88) (1.84) (.516)

Total difficulties 7.77 5.65 3.03� 6.57 5.78 1.62(6.14) (4.54) (.003) (5.35) (4.70) (.115)

SSBS-2 teachersPeer relations 52.22 55.86 �3.24� 54.95 55.24 �0.31

(10.42) (9.12) (.001) (9.85) (9.32) (.759)Self-management/compliance 39.78 42.25 �3.00� 41.66 41.75 �0.13

(8.04) (6.56) (.003) (6.97) (6.98) (.896)Academic behavior 33.15 34.30 �2.99 33.21 34.25 �1.68

(7.24) (5.90) (.011) (6.45) (6.14) (.093)Social competence 124.15 132.41 �3.14� 129.83 131.25 �0.72

(22.82) (18.96) (.001) (20.98) (19.56) (.475)

Note. M 5 mean; SD 5 standard deviation; SDQ 5 Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SSBS-2 5 School SocialBehavior Scales, second version.�po.004 (Bonferroni correction).



teachers. In addition, participation in nonsports activities predicted fewer hyperactivityproblems according to teachers. With regard to social school behavior, participation insports activities predicted better peer relations for boys. In girls, participation innonsports activities predicted better peer relations, self-management/compliance,academic behavior, and, in general, social competence.

DISCUSSION

Because of the lack of research about extracurricular activities out of America and withyounger populations, the main goal of this study was to examine the relationshipbetween weekly participation in extracurricular activities and primary schoolchildren’s emotional and behavioral adjustment in a large community sample fromCatalonia (Spain). Unlike most previous studies, we tested the pattern of relationsseparately by children’s gender and activity type (nonsports and sports), andconsidered more than one informant (parents’ and teachers’ adjustment scores).Additionally, we took into account variables associated with development, well-being,and physical and mental health, that is, parental education and parenting practices. Ingeneral, results indicated that a weekly participation in extracurricular activities wasassociated with higher levels of adjustment in middle childhood. Nonsports activitiesshowed a higher impact in girls’ adjustment, and sports activities were slightly more

Table 4. Effects of Participation in Extracurricular Activities on Adjustment Variables AfterIncluding Control Variables (Parental Education and Parenting)


Boys Girls Boys Girls

Adjustment variables b (DR2) b (DR2) b (DR2) b (DR2)

SDQ parentsEmotional symptoms n.a. �.13�� (1.6%) �.07 (0.5%) n.a.Conduct problems n.a. �.03 (0.1%) n.a. n.a.Hyperactivity n.a. �.08 (0.6%) n.a. �.08 (0.6%)Peer problems �.09 (0.8%) �.07 (0.5%) �.11� (1.2%) n.a.Prosocial behavior n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.Total difficulties �.05 (0.2%) �.11� (1.1%) �.08 (0.7%) �.02 (0.0%)

SDQ teachersEmotional symptoms n.a. �.12� (1.3%) �.11� (1.1%) �.08 (0.5%)Conduct problems n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.Hyperactivity n.a. �.10� (0.9%) n.a. �.07 (0.4%)Peer problems n.a. �.10 (0.8%) n.a. n.a.Prosocial behavior n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.Total difficulties n.a. �.13�� (1.6%) n.a. n.a.

SSBS-2 teachersPeer relations .09 (0.8%) .13�� (1.7%) .10 (0.9%) n.a.Self-management/compliance n.a. .11� (1.1%) n.a. n.a.Academic behavior n.a. .10� (0.9%) n.a. n.a.Social competence .08 (0.5%) .13�� (1.6%) n.a. n.a.

Note. SDQ 5 Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SSBS-2 5 School Social Behavior Scales, second version;n.a. 5 not computed because no significant differences were found in previous Student t-test comparisons.�po.05; ��po.01.



relevant in boys. However, the explanatory power was slight and decreased oncefamily confounding variables were considered. Furthermore, results suggested thatthe source of information considered may have led us to overestimate or, conversely,ignore the magnitude of the relations.

Overall, findings confirm previous data from research in U.S samples, showingthat participation in extracurricular activities and better adjustment were positivelyrelated (Bohnert & Garber, 2007; Mahoney et al., 2003); results support the relevanceof these activities for the healthy development of children. The explanatory poweris small but consistent with prior work (Mancini & Huebner, 2004). It probablyindicates that there are other relevant variables for explaining behavior problems. Infact, the family variables considered in this study provide greater predictive capacity.However, as it is a nonclinical sample, the association is probably smaller than inclinical samples or in populations at higher risk of behavior problems. For example, itis possible that the incremental benefit of these activities is greater for children frommore deprived backgrounds than for children from more affluent backgrounds, asMahoney and Cairns (1997) found. Future studies should examine the effect inparticular groups of risk. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the absence ofsignificant relationships in some variables or a small effect do not exclude an impact inthe long term (Denault & Poulin, 2009). Also, studying long-term adjustment innonparticipating children would increase the knowledge about the influence ofextracurricular activities.

Because the design of the study does not make it possible to infer the direction ofcausality, several plausible alternative interpretations cannot be ruled out. First, it ispossible that the activities are beneficial for a healthy development and act as aprotective factor. Second, it is also probable that children showing better adjustmentare more likely to engage in these social activities that are largely popular for theirgroup age. And, conversely, those who present difficulties reject participation.However, it is possible that activities and adjustment have a bidirectional relationship.Nevertheless, the high participation in the community sample of study probablysuggests that children with behavior problems will be less likely to participate in them,as they require interaction with peers and some level of commitment and confidence.As nonparticipation does not solely depend on individual characteristics, however,there may be other factors such as parental involvement, transportation, or ability topay for these activities that mediate. Huebner and Mancini (2003) found a variety offactors that are related to adolescents’ participation in structured out-of-schoolactivities. Future studies should study the potentially common factors that explain bothnonparticipation and the presence of maladjustment.

The pattern of relations for boys and girls encourages subsequent activities studiesto focus on gender. They would provide a deeper understanding of the developmentof problem behaviors, as recent research has shown different trajectories and clinicalmanifestations of externalizing and internalizing problems according to gender (Crick& Zahn-Waxler, 2003). Several studies have shown that boys and girls differ in theirlifestyles. In this study, participation in each category of extracurricular activitiesdiffers significantly according to gender, so it is expected that if activities are notequally relevant they will not have the same influence. Risk and protective factors thatboys and girls are exposed to during time after school may differ. Lack of traditionabout the influence of gender in extracurricular activities makes comparisons difficult.Nevertheless, prior research on sports activities and behavior problems supports adifferentiated effect (Sagatun et al., 2007).



The most consistent effect found in boys was the association between participationin sports activities and less problematic relationships with peers, consistent withSagatun et al. (2007). Nevertheless, there are studies that found associations betweensport and emotional well-being in adolescents (Steptoe & Butler, 1996). However,Allison et al. (2005) controlled for socioeconomic status and did not find a significantrelationship between physical activity and anxious-depressive symptoms. In our study,we found associations in bivariate analyses but they disappeared after consideringfamily variables. On the other hand, a lack of a relationship between participation inextracurricular activities and externalizing problems is consistent with Fletcher et al.(2003) in fourth-grade students. It has been suggested that participation can be relatedto behavior problems more characteristic in youth (e.g., substance use). Moreover,variables such as negative parenting practices seem more relevant to explainexternalizing problems.

The high prevalence of boys’ participation in sports activities suggests that theabsence of participation could be an indicator of maladjustment, because playingsports seems to be the norm rather than the exception. In contrast, the low effect ofnonsports activities could indicate that participation is less related to individualcharacteristics of children and more determined by parents’ (e.g., reconcilingtimetables, expectations). Sports are common in boys, highly valued and sociallysupported; children who participate have a higher social status and more favourableself-image (Kirkcaldy, Shepard, & Siefen, 2002). It is possible that sports promotesocially appropriate relationships with peers and improve social status and acceptance.These activities provide a social context outside the strictly formal and academic onethat involves social skills, as well as a socially valued support network of peers andadults. Even children who do not succeed academically have an opportunity to balancetheir self-image and social status if they do well in sports. It is also possible thatchildren without peer problems are skilful and socially accepted, and they are morelikely to participate. In contrast, children with social problems could tend to isolatethemselves, or be isolated, being at risk of spending this time in unhealthy activities,perpetuating negative behaviors, and deteriorating their self-image and self-confidence. Probably both explanations are viable. Nevertheless, as a majority of boysare involved in sports activities, equating nonparticipation with the probable presenceof social and clinical problems seems more plausible.

In girls, the findings are consistent with studies that suggest a beneficial effect ofextracurricular activities in internalizing problems (Eccles et al., 1999), externalizingproblems (Bohnert & Garber, 2007; Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001), and socialcompetence (Fletcher et al., 2003; Mahoney et al., 2003). Therefore, coincidences inparent and teacher ratings and in total scores reinforce their positive impact. Thelower explanatory power of extracurricular activities in conduct problems in girls canbe explained by their different manifestation compared with boys; the average valuesare significantly lower. Some authors have shown that the expression of conductproblems in girls tends to be more hidden, appearing as relational aggression, whichmay hamper their detection by evaluators (Crick & Zahn-Waxler, 2003). Nevertheless,differences have been found in hyperactivity, although the lack of similar studies limitscomparison. As mentioned previously, the results can be interpreted in several ways.First, nonsports activities can be beneficial, thanks to characteristics such as providing avalued social network and the practice of specific abilities different than formalacademic ones. Second, it is also possible that participation depends basically on thepresence of problem behaviors with the consequent risk of creating a negative vicious



cycle. Activities can be an educational supplement for many girls, but also the presenceof academic difficulties can be a handicap for further activities such as languages andmusic, which can generate a negative self-image (e.g., sense of inadequacy and failure)that can contribute to drop out. Beiswenger and Grolnick (in press) found thatperceived competence has an important role in motivation adolescents’ after-schoolactivities. As approximately 80% of girls practice nonsports activities, it seems thatnonparticipation could be a manifestation of the presence of maladjustment.

The results of this study also suggest that the relationship between adjustment andextracurricular activities depends on the informant. More specifically, the type ofsymptoms associated, the magnitude of the relationship, and the effect may varydepending on whether it is the parents or the teacher who score children’s behavior.The data obtained are in line with the recommendations for the need to use more thanone report because considering just one can lead to partial or biased knowledge (vander Ende & Verhulst, 2005). Each report provides unique information regarding theemotional and behavioral functioning of children and adolescents, the informationabout one does not replace that of the other, and they are not interchangeable (De losReyes & Kazdin, 2005). In addition, there are disorders such as ADHD, which can onlybe diagnosed if symptoms are present in two or more contexts, usually at home and atschool. However, it might also be the case that other types of behavioral problems arepresent in a given situation and then one of the informants does not perceive them. Insum, and in line with the recommendations of various authors, appraisal of the presentresults should take into account the commonality between the reports, maintaining theuniqueness of each one as it provides a more complete picture of the person assessed.

These findings need to be interpreted in light of some methodological decisions.First, because of the cross-sectional design selected conclusions of direction, cause orstability of the effects cannot be established. As noted, several alternative interpreta-tions are plausible. Therefore, absence of impact or low effect in middle childhoodcannot be interpreted as irrelevant for future development. Second, involvement inextracurricular activities has been measured through participation and otherdimensions of participation as intensity or breadth could add extra information.Third, other confounding variables can have an influence in the relation betweenchildhood adjustment and extracurricular activities (e.g., parental psychopathology orchildren’s temperament). Finally, the nature of the sample—voluntary, normative, andrepresentative of a limited geographical area—limits generalization to clinical samplesor less represented minority groups. Despite these limitations, the study represents afirst attempt at examining the relationship between participation in extracurricularactivities and emotional and behavioral adjustment in boys and girls in middlechildhood in a European sample.

In summary, this study expands existing knowledge about protective factorsrelated to mental health and lends support to a multidimensional approach in theetiological development of behavior problems. Also, it provides information about apopulation less studied in extracurricular activities research, boys and girls between6 and 12 years old. The results obtained highlight a positive effect on emotional andbehavioral adjustment and social academic competence at this age and suggest thatattention should be paid to the correlates of nonparticipation; a hypothetical tool fordetecting the presence of problems in children or those at higher risk of externalizingand internalizing problems. These results have important implications for futureresearch and health policy in children. Governments should promote and facilitateaccess to such activities without choice depending on economic factors. Moreover, not



having found a significant effect on some adjustment variables does not rule out afuture impact or effects in other health areas, such as physical health status. Therefore,if future longitudinal studies support the beneficial effects at early age, then extra-curricular activities can serve as a community resource without negative connotations,which can avoid premature labelling and stigmatization. Also, the results show possibledifferences in the paths of development of externalizing and internalizing problemsaccording to gender. Finally, data are in line with recommendations about the need touse more than one source of information.

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Participation in extracurricular activities and emotional and behavioral adjustment in middle childhood in Spanish Boys and Girls