Extracurricular Activities and Student Outcomes in Elementary and Middle School: Causal Effects or Self-Selection?

• In Event: 4203 - School Effects and Interventions: Causal Evidence

Abstract

Prior research has consistently documented positive relationships between participation in extracurricular activities (ECA) and cognitive, psychological, and social outcomes for children and adolescents. We argue that the self-selection of advantaged families into ECA’s, along with numerous methodological limitations in prior research raise legitimate questions regarding whether ECA participation is causally related to student outcomes. In this paper, we present an analytical model that provides a stronger test of causal relationships. We analyze data from six waves of the ECLS-K:1998 (K-8) and construct a cross-lagged panel model with student fixed effects. Overall, our findings suggest that participation in ECA during elementary school has small, but positive causal effects on academic ability, which grow larger for students in later grades (3rd grade through 8th). Our findings provide little evidence that greater ECA participation improves students’ socioemotional skills, either in early or later grades. Overall, our findings validate some prior research, while raising questions about the internal validity of other findings.

Authors

• William J. Carbonaro, University of Notre Dame

• Emily Maloney, Duke University