Transitioning From Nonparticipation to Extracurricular Engagement Is Associated With Mental Health in Early Adolescence

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Measuring the Impact of Out-of-School Time

Abstract

We examined transitions in extracurricular engagement from grade 4 to 7, and investigated whether transitioning from non-participation to participation in activities was associated with better mental health. Latent-Class-Analyses of early adolescents’ self-reports in grades 4 and 7 (N=10,149) revealed four clusters of extracurricular engagement (i.e., “no activities”, “all activities”, “sports”, “individual activities”). Latent-Transition-Analysis showed that young people tended to stay in the same activities-cluster from grade 4 to 7. About 10% were non-participants in grade 4 and had moved to activities by grade 7. Examining mental health over time in this sub-group, we found that moving from non-participation to sports, and to all activities was associated with better mental health; this pathway was mediated by higher levels of peer belonging.

Authors

• Eva Oberle, The University of British Columbia

• Xuejun Ryan Ji, The University of British Columbia