Jocks Mathletes and Band Geeks Do Extracurricular Activities

Jocks, Mathletes, and Band Geeks; Do Extracurricular Activities Affect Perceptions of Future and Rule Violating Behaviors? Kelly Jacques and Sarah Nordstrom Advisor: Ellen S. Cohn, Ph. D. Introduction Results Discussion Extracurricular Activities (EC) • Participation in non-sport Extracurricular Activities was shown to decrease aspects of Rule Violating Behavior, such as risk taking 3 • Adolescents participating in sports were shown to refrain from partaking in violence 2 • Those participating in EC may be more equipped for the future through the learning tools that these activities provide 4 Overall EC 0. 03 -0. 09** EC Rule Violating Behavior (RVB) • PF RVB -0. 12*** Students in all ECs engage in RVB; however, the amount varies with the EC 1 Perceptions of Future (PF) • Students report taking part in EC for the benefit of their future “possible selves” 4 • Participation in ECs is associated with positive outcomes such as higher educational attainment and greater future earnings 5 PF -0. 04 Hypothesis 1: Those who participate in Extracurricular Activities will express lower levels of Rule Violating Behavior and higher levels of Perceptions of Future Hypothesis 2: Those with higher Perceptions of Future will express lower levels of Rule Violating Behaviors. Method Our data comes from the New Hampshire Youth Study (NHYS), a longitudinal study focusing on the reasons for adolescents rule violating behavior. Data presented was collected over the course of one year. Participants 840 Participants • 41. 03% male and 58. 97% female Measures • Extra Curricular activities • Asked participants whether or not they have participated in extra curricular activities in the past 12 months. e. g. sports • Rule Violating Behavior • Asked participants to indicate how many times they had engaged in a variety of RVB’s from 0 -180 times in the last six months. e. g. knowingly stole or held stolen goods? M = 0. 17 SD = 0. 16 • Perceptions of Future • Asked participants how likely it is that they will do various things throughout their life. e. g. graduate from college? M = 3. 08 SD = 0. 74 Community EC Academic EC PF -0. 10** RVB -0. 11** Art EC -0. 10** 0. 04 Community EC RVB -0. 07* Sports PF Art EC PF -0. 10** 0. 03 -0. 10** Support for Hypothesis • Researchers have found that adolescents who participate in EC express less RVB. Our data supported these findings. • Every EC grouping examined produced this relationship. • Previous researchers predicted that adolescents who participate in EC will have a better future. Our research reached similar findings in only one aspect. • Those who participated in sports reported more positive perceptions of future. Implications • The consistency with previous research in regards to EC deterring RVB, shows that athletes refrain from detrimental behaviors more often and also think more highly of their future. Limitations • The PF variable consisted of both negative and positive questions that participants ranked on the same scale. If the scale was edited to provide either only negative or positive questions, we believe we may have seen different results. Future Directions • Examine the differences in why non-sport EC do not help provide faith in adolescents’ futures. • Examine why adolescents who participate in Academic EC have the poorest perceptions of their futures. RVB References -0. 09** 0. 09 Sports RVB (-0. 07*) -0. 07* For more information: kmj 1005@wildcats. unh. edu and sjn 2010@wildcats. unh. edu 1 Cooley, V. E. , Henriksen, L. W. , Nelson, C. V. , & Thompson Jr, J. C. (2001). A study to determine the effect of extracurricular participation on student alcohol and drug use in secondary schools. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education. 40(2), 71 -87. 2 Gardner, M. , Roth, J. , & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2009). Sports participation and juvenile delinquency: The role of the peer context among adolescent boys and girls with varied histories of problem behavior. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 341 -353. doi: 10. 1037/a 0014063 3 Heaslip, G. P. , & Barber, B. L. (2017). Extracurricular activity intensity and adolescent risktaking: Exploring interactive effects of contextual risk and coping efficacy. The Educational And Developmental Psychologist, 34(1), 62 -77. doi: 10. 1017/edp. 2016. 19 4 Snellman, K. , Silva, J. M. , Frederick, C. B. , & Putnam, R, D (2015). The engagement gap: Social mobility and extracurricular participation among American youth. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 657(1), 194 -207. doi: 10. 1177/0002716 214548398 5 Stevenson, J. , & Clegg, S. (2011). Possible selves: Students orientating themselves towards the future through extracurricular activity. British Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 231 -246. doi: 10. 1080/ 01411920903540672