Understanding Chinese Preschoolers' Affective Experience in Organized Extracurricular Activities

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

With children’s increasing participation in extracurricular activities (EAs) worldwide, EA settings have become an important microsystem in which children learn and develop. In recent years, EAs have gained huge popularity among urban Chinese preschoolers (Lau & Cheng, 2016; Ren, Kutaka, Chernyavskiy, Fan, & Li, 2020). However, most existing studies on EA involvement were conducted among school-aged children and youth. In addition, EA literature has primarily focused on the linkage between EA participation and developmental outcomes, yet children’s involvement experience, namely “their in-the-moment psychological perceptions of the interactive climate and activities presented,” is largely overlooked (Akiva, Cortina, Eccles, & Smith, 2013, p. 208). To address these gaps, the present study took an interest in examining the affective experience in EAs among a group of Chinese preschool-aged children.

Participants included 90 EA-participating children (57% girls, Mage = 68.92 ± 3.38 months) recruited from nine preschools in urban Shanghai. First, family questionnaires were distributed to collect information on EAs that children were participating. Next, child interviews were conducted to understand children’s affective experience in EAs from their own perspectives. For each EA, children were asked to rate their feelings during the EA using a 4-point pictorial Likert scale that included four facial expressions (1 = very unhappy, 2 = somewhat unhappy, 3 = somewhat happy, and 4 = very happy; Chiu & Lau, 2018) and to explain why they chose that particular facial expression. Children were encouraged to give as many reasons as they would like to describe their affective experience in the EA.

Overall, the 90 children were involved in 314 EAs, resulting in 314 ratings and responses. Art activities, English programs, academic-oriented EAs, and sports were widely participated and children reported positive affective experience during most EAs. To capture the types of reasons provided by children in the interviews, we developed a coding scheme that included six major categories: intrinsic motivation (i.e., children’s natural interests and/or inner desires for growth), format of the activities (i.e., the way that an EA is designed and organized), difficulty level of the activities, relationship with people, external reinforcement (i.e., tangible or intangible rewards from parents and/or EA teachers), and arrangement of the activities (i.e., how well an EA fits into children’s daily routines) (see Table 1). We also distinguished whether children used a particular reason to justify negative or positive feelings. Figure 1 demonstrates the percentages of each response type. The first four categories described above were frequently mentioned by children, suggesting that children’s internal needs, social needs, and the characteristics of EAs could largely influence their emotional engagement in EAs.

Findings are discussed considering intrinsic/mastery motivation, extrinsic motivation, social relationships in young children’s development, as well as the specific characteristics of EAs in China. Our findings highlight young children’s capacities of describing their own affective experience in EAs and the need to better understand young children’s EA experiences from their own perspectives.

Authors

• Lingyun Mang, East China Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Suqing Wang, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lixin Ren, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author