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Extracurricular activity and parentalinvolvement predict positive outcomesin elementary school childrenDaniel G. Lagacé‐Séguin a & Emily Case b

a Mount Saint Vincent University , Halifax, Canadab Ontario Institute for the Studies in Education at the Universityof Toronto , Toronto, CanadaPublished online: 10 Apr 2008.

To cite this article: Daniel G. Lagacé‐Séguin & Emily Case (2010) Extracurricular activity andparental involvement predict positive outcomes in elementary school children, Early ChildDevelopment and Care, 180:4, 453-462, DOI: 10.1080/03004430802040948

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Early Child Development and CareVol. 180, No. 4, May 2010, 453–462

ISSN 0300-4430 print/ISSN 1476-8275 online© 2010 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/03004430802040948http://www.informaworld.com

Extracurricular activity and parental involvement predict positive outcomes in elementary school children

Daniel G. Lagacé-Séguina* and Emily Caseb

aMount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada; bOntario Institute for the Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Toronto, CanadaTaylor and Francis LtdGECD_A_304262.sgm(Received 16 January 2008; final version received 27 March 2008)

10.1080/03004430802040948Early Childhood Development and Care0300-4430 (print)/1476-8275 (online)Original Article2008Taylor & Francis0000000002008DanielLagacé-Séguindaniel.lagace-seguin@msvu.caThe main goal of this study was to explore if parental involvement and extracurricularactivity participation could predict well-being and academic competence in elementaryschool children. Seventy-two children (mean age = 10.9 years, SD = 0.85) and theirparents participated. Results revealed that parental pressure and support, when pairedwith extracurricular activity participation, successfully predicted children’s well-beingand academic competence. Follow-up analyses were conducted to establish differencesbetween children who participate in low versus high numbers of activities. Results arediscussed in terms of how extracurricular activities and parental involvement inactivities impact upon positive outcomes in childhood.

Keywords: extracurricular activities; parental pressure; parental support; well-being;academic competence

Introduction

Extracurricular activities and parental involvement have independently been associatedwith well-being and academic success for high school and elementary school children(e.g., Anderson, Funk, Elliott, & Smith, 2003; Fletcher, Nickerson, & Wright, 2003;Gilman, Meyers, & Perez, 2004). However, there has yet to be an empirical description ofhow these two predictor variables may work in unison (i.e. interact with one another) toforecast childhood outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe theserelations by using a model based on moderated analyses. In doing so, specific relationswill emerge that will describe the importance of levels of extracurricular activity and typesof parental support in children’s academic and social lives.

Extracurricular activities and child outcomes

Overall, extracurricular activity involvement has been associated with many positiveoutcomes in childhood and adolescence (e.g., DeMoulin, 2002; Fletcher et al., 2003;Gilman et al., 2004; Powell, Peet, & Peet, 2002). Academically, Powell et al. (2002)reported that grades were significantly higher for those children who participated moder-ately in extracurricular activities versus those who did not participate. And, Gilman et al.(2004) reported a negative correlation between extracurricular activity participation andschool drop-out. Similar results have been reported by Mahoney and Cairns (1997), who

*Corresponding author. Email: daniel.lagace-seguin@msvu.ca

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found that students who had dropped-out participated in significantly fewer extracurricularactivities than students who had not dropped-out.

Comparable findings have been reported from a social perspective. Gilman et al.(2004) found that adolescents who participated in many activities had higher life satisfac-tion when compared with adolescents who participated in fewer activities. In a similarvein, DeMoulin (2002) found that adolescents who participated in activities reportedhigher levels of maturity, as well as more adaptive decision-making skills. Also, extracur-ricular activity participation has been investigated as a protective factor in adolescence(Mahoney, 2000). Specifically, participation has been linked to decreased criminal activityand lower arrest rates (Mahoney, 2000). From the existing literature, it is safe to concludethat extracurricular activity predicts positive academic and social outcomes for childrenand adolescents. However, what role does parenting play in predicting child outcomes?

Parental involvement and child outcomes

The prediction of positive and negative outcomes for children as the result of parents’involvement is well documented (e.g. Jones & Lagacé-Séguin, 2006; Lagacé-Séguin &Coplan, 2005; Lagacé-Séguin & d’Entremont, 2006). It is generally understood that whenparents are nurturing and form a secure relationship with their children, that childrenbenefit socially, emotionally, physiologically and personally. For example, Lagacé-Séguinand Coplan (2005) reported that the emotional closeness between mothers and their chil-dren led to increased positive relations with peers for children who had lower levels ofregulation. Also, Jones and Lagacé-Séguin (2006) reported that lower levels of parentalpessimism were associated with higher levels of well-being in young children.

Other researchers such as Fletcher, Elder, and Mekos (2000) examined the associa-tions between parental warmth, parental reinforcement and parental involvement in extra-curricular activity participation. Overall, parental warmth and reinforcement were bothpositively correlated with a child’s involvement in extracurricular activities. In a similarvein, Huebner and Mancini (2003) investigated familial characteristics on the impact ofextracurricular activity involvement. The authors reported that socioeconomic status(SES), parental support and family structure were all positively correlated with participa-tion in extracurricular activities. As a result, children in families with high SES, highparental support and positive family structure were more likely to participate in extracur-ricular activities. Additionally, Anderson et al. (2003) examined the relationship betweenparental support and pressure and children’s experiences while participating in extracur-ricular activities. They found that parental support was positively correlated with thenumber of activities in which the child was participating, and parental pressure was nega-tively correlated with parental support. But, the results further showed that children’senjoyment in sports positively correlated with parental support and negatively associatedwith parental pressure.

Parental involvement, extracurricular activities and child outcomes: the current study

While extracurricular activity participation and parental involvement have been brieflydiscussed in the literature, an investigation regarding the links between extracurricularactivity participation, parental involvement and childhood well-being has been non-existent. These variables have not been examined concurrently or in depth in the extantliterature. In addition, there has been no attempt to determine if an interaction exists

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Early Child Development and Care 455

between extracurricular activity participation and parental involvement in the predictionof childhood well-being. Therefore, the current study was designed to fill this noticeablegap in the literature.

Because this is a relatively novel idea and there is little established research to supporta theory-driven hypothesis, the major hypothesis for this study is exploratory. It waspredicted that parental involvement will interact with differing levels of extracurricularactivity participation in the prediction of childhood well-being and academic competence.For example, parental support may be positively related to childhood well-being andacademic competence, for those children who engage in high levels of extracurricularactivity but not for those who engage in lower levels of extracurricular activity.

Methods

Participants

Seventy-two elementary school children and their parents participated in the currentstudy. The participants were drawn from elementary schools in Eastern Canada and therewere no incentives offered. The children ranged in age from 9 to 13 years, with a meanage of 10.9 years (SD = 0.85). There were 41 males and 31 females. The children werein grades four (n = 12), five (n = 28) and six (n = 32). The majority of parents whocompleted the questionnaire were married mothers living with their husbands and hadcompleted post-secondary education at the Bachelor’s level. Teachers were asked toallow time during a non-core subject, like health, so that participating children were ableto complete the questionnaires.

Measures

The scales that were used in the current study include: the Self-Perception Profile forChildren, the Parental Involvement in Activities Scale, an extracurricular activity partici-pation questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire.

The Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) is a measure of the child’sperception of scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physicalappearance and behaviour conduct, as well as global self-worth. This scale has 36 itemsand uses a structure alternative format where the child is presented with two situations andmust decide which situation is either ‘really true for me’ or ‘sort of true for me’ and hasbeen shown to have acceptable psychometric stability (Harter, 1982, 1985).

The Parental Involvement in Activities Scale (PIAS; Anderson et al., 2003) is ameasure of the child’s perception of his/her parents’ levels of support and pressure withrespect to extracurricular involvement. The questionnaire has 16 items and is rated usinga four-point Likert-type scale, where one is ‘never’, two is ‘sometimes’, three is ‘usually’and four is ‘always’ (Anderson et al., 2003). Using factor analysis, Anderson et al. (2003)found the subscales parental support (Cronbach’s alpha = .70) and parental pressure(Cronbach’s alpha = .71) to be reliable. The scale has been shown to have reasonablepsychometric stability (Anderson et al., 2003).

The measure of extracurricular participation included a list of possible activitiesdivided into five types: pro-social activities, sports teams, performing arts, school involve-ment activities and academic clubs. Each participant was asked how many times per weekhe/she is involved in activities, as well as how many times per week he/she is involved ineach different type of activities. For the purposes of this article, only the amount of activityper week was used in the analyses.

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The demographic questionnaire included questions about the parents’ age, maritalstatus and educational level. This questionnaire also included questions regarding thechild’s sex and age. The questions asked on this questionnaire were optional forparents, but were used to examine demographic characteristics that might impact partic-ipation in extracurricular activities, parental involvement, well-being and academiccompetence.

Procedure

The children of the parents who volunteered for the study were taken out of class duringan agreed upon time with the classroom teacher. The purpose of the study was explainedand verbal consent was given by each child. In a group administration, the studentscompleted three questionnaires: The Self-Perception Profile for Children, the ParentalInvolvement in Activities Scale and an extracurricular activity participation questionnaire.The group administrations took approximately 20 minutes. The demographic question-naire was then sent home with each child.

Results

The primary goal of this study was to examine the moderated pathways to children’s well-being from the interactions between parental involvement extracurricular activityparticipation. While many other analyses were conducted, the main objective of this articleis to report the findings of the moderated regression analyses. However, it should bereported that there were no sex or grade differences on any of the variables used in thisstudy.

Moderated regression analysis

To examine the moderated (interactive) pathways in the prediction of children’s well-being and perceived academic competence, interactions between extracurricular activityinvolvement and two levels of parental involvement were explored using multiple regres-sion analysis. Cohen’s partialed products technique (Cohen, 1978; Cohen & Cohen, 1983)was employed, whereby independent variables are first entered into the regression equa-tion as a block, followed by the interaction terms (as represented by their multiplicativeproducts). At each step, the R2 change was examined to determine if significant maineffects and significant interactions were present.

Interaction terms were created by combining activity involvement per week separatelywith both types of parental involvement (e.g. either pressure or support). Once the inter-action terms were created, they were re-standardised. These interactions (i.e. extracurric-ular activity involvement per week × each type of parental involvement) were tested inthe prediction of overall well-being and perceived academic competence.

In order to assess the moderating effects (i.e. the interaction terms), specific blocks ofvariables were entered into the hierarchical regression analyses. The first block includedthe parental involvement variable (either pressure or support). The second blockconsisted of the extracurricular activity involvement per week. The third block includedthe interaction term: the combination of either parental pressure or parental support andthe participation in activities per week. These combinations yielded four significant inter-actions and follow-up analyses were conducted.

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Parental pressure

Results from regression analysis revealed a significant interaction between parental pres-sure and activity involvement per week in the prediction of children’s overall well-being(F(3, 71) = 4.72, p < .01, R2

change = .14).Interactions were explored by re-computing the regression analysis separately for

students reporting above and below the median in terms of extracurricular activityparticipation (i.e. high activities and low activities). Results from the follow-up analysisindicated a significant negative correlation between parental pressure and well-being forchildren who participated in a higher number of activities per week (r(71) = −.42, p < .05),as compared to children who participated in fewer activities per week (r(71) = −.02, n.s.).This indicates that as parental pressure increases, well-being decreases for those childrenwho are participating in a higher number of activities per week but not for childrenparticipating in fewer activities.

Results from regression analysis also revealed a significant interaction betweenparental pressure and activity involvement per week in the prediction of children’sperceived academic competence (F(3, 71) = 3.73, p < .05, R2

change = .10). Results fromthe follow-up analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between parental pres-sure and academic competence for children who participated in fewer activities per week(r(71) = −.49, p < .05), as compared with children who participated in a higher number ofactivities per week (r(71) = −.12, n.s.). This indicates that as parental pressure increases,perceived academic competence decreased for those children who are participating in alower number of activities per week.

Parental support

Results from the regression analysis then revealed a significant interaction betweenparental support and activity participation per week in the prediction of children’s overallwell-being (F(3, 71) = 5.40, p < .01, R2

change = .16). Results from follow-up analysis indi-cated a significant positive correlation between parental support and well-being for thosechildren who participated in fewer activities per week (r(71) = .55, p < .05) as comparedwith those children who participated in a higher number of activities per week (r(71) = .13,n.s.). This indicates that as parental support increases, overall well-being also increases forthose children who are participating in a lower number of activities per week.

Additionally, results revealed a significant interaction between parental support andactivity participation per week in the prediction of children’s perceived academic compe-tence (F(3) = 4.37, p < .01, R2

change = .13). Results from follow-up analysis indicated asignificant positive correlation between parental support and academic competence forthose children who participated in a lower number of activities per week (r(71) = .39,p < .05), as compared with those who participated in a higher number of activities perweek (r(71) = −.09, n.s.). This indicates that as parental support increases, perceivedacademic competence increases for those children who are participating in a lower numberof activities per week.

Discussion

The primary goal of this study was to examine the moderated pathways to children’s well-being and academic competence from the interactions between parental involvement andextracurricular activity participation. The results of the current study revealed manyinteresting and novel significant interactions.

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It can be recalled that it was predicted that differing levels of parental involvementwould interact with extracurricular activity participation in the prediction of childhoodwell-being and academic competence. And, the example was given that parental supportmay be positively related to childhood well-being for children who engage in high levelsof extracurricular activity but not for those who engage in lower levels of extracurricularactivity. As the result of the significant interactions, this hypothesis was supported and willbe discussed in depth along with other significant interactions.

There was a significant interaction between parental pressure and extracurricularactivity involvement to predict overall well-being in children. When activity involvementwas separated into high and low categories, follow-up analysis revealed a negative rela-tionship between pressure and well-being for students who participate in high numbers ofactivities, and not for those who participate in low numbers of activities. This indicates adetrimental impact from parental pressure on well-being for children involved in manyactivities, as compared with those involved in few or no activities.

It is a possibility that students who participate in many extracurricular activitiespossess specific characteristics that may impact their response to pressure. These studentsmay want to please their parents, they may want to do well in a specific activity or theymay want to be part of a group. Children sometimes join many activities to fulfil personalneeds, but then when they experience pressure from parents to improve or to never quit,feelings, stress and worries about consequences may become internalised, thereby decreas-ing a child’s overall well-being.

This specific interaction was exploratory and not yet examined in the literature.However, Mahoney and Cairns (1997) examined the role of extracurricular activities as aprotective factor. The authors reported that activities could act as a protective factoragainst negative outcomes in adolescence, specifically school drop-out. They alsoreported that adolescents who had lower life skills benefited more from some extracurric-ular activities, as compared with those students who had higher life skills and participatedin many activities. This suggests that students participating in many activities may notbenefit as much as students participating in fewer activities. When parental pressure istaken into consideration, the children participating in many activities experience adecrease in well-being. It is possible that children in participating fewer activities areexperiencing other negative influences in their lives, and so pressure does not significantlyimpact well-being.

In all, it seems that parents who are overly attentive may dictate a child’s activities intheir best interest (Lagacé-Séguin & Coplan, 2005), which may in turn lead to a decline ina child’s well-being. Lagacé-Séguin and Coplan (2005) investigated differences betweenemotion coaching and emotion dismissing parenting styles. They found that children whowere already skilled in the area of emotion regulation were influenced negatively bymaternal emotion coaching. These children experienced more anxiety than children whowere not skilled in emotion regulation. It may be that children who demonstrate abilitiesin activities and well-being could be more negatively influenced by parental pressure thanthose who do not already possess such high-level abilities. Translated into the current find-ings, it may be that parents need to exert less pressure on children who are participating inmany extracurricular activities. Increased pressure may be compromising their children’swell-being.

There was an additional significant interaction between parental pressure and activityinvolvement in the prediction of academic competence. Follow-up analysis revealed anegative correlation between pressure and academic competence for those children whoparticipate in low numbers of activities, and not for those who participate in high numbers

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Early Child Development and Care 459

of activities. This indicates that for children participating in fewer activities, pressure fromparents is having a negative impact on the child’s perceived academic skills. This interac-tion had not yet been examined in the research.

This relationship is different from the previous interaction. Children who participate ina low number of activities per week likely have different characteristics than those whoparticipated in many activities per week. These children may be quiet, shy or less outgo-ing. They may have lower self-esteem or under-developed social skills and may feel thatthey are only good at one or two activities outside of school. These children may alreadyquestion their abilities in other areas of their lives. For these children, parental pressure isgoing to impact self-esteem negatively. As elementary students spend a large portion oftheir time in the school setting, pressure may impact a child’s perception of how well heor she is performing academically.

Luthar and Becker (2002) examined the impact of pressure on well-being and academicachievement of students from high SES households. While pressure was negatively asso-ciated with well-being, it did not significantly influence academic grades. This may suggestthat children in this study, who participate in many activities, have other protective factorsthat mediate the effects of pressure on academic performance, such as study skills or teachersupport. Similarly, Georgiou (1997) investigated the impact of parental involvement on theschool achievement of grade-six children. It was reported that receiving high levels of pres-sure from home was negatively associated with actual school achievement. Parents needto exert less pressure on children who are participating in low numbers of activities. Shouldpressure be commonplace, children’s perception of personal academic competence maydecline.

The third significant interaction was between parental support and activityinvolvement in the prediction of overall well-being. Follow-up analysis indicated asignificant positive correlation between well-being and parental support for children whoparticipate in fewer activities, and not for children who participate in high numbers ofactivities.

Intuitively, children who participate in high versus low numbers of activities may havedifferent characteristics. Children in high numbers of activities may be outgoing, mature,independent and socially skilled (DeMoulin, 2002; Fletcher et al., 2003). These childrenmay not benefit as much from parental support because they already possess many adap-tive skills that can be linked with increased well-being. Children involved in lowernumbers of activities may need that extra support from parents to contribute to increasedwell-being during and outside of activities. These children may not possess the adaptiveskills, like high self-confidence or independence, which children who participate in manyactivities might have. Instead they need outside encouragement from parents to feel confi-dent during activities. This confidence, instilled by parents, may increase a child’s senseof overall well-being. As indicated by Lee-Corbin and Evans (1996), children who areunderachievers, but identified as able, frequently lack parental support. These childrenmay not possess the adaptive skills that achieving children have already acquired. Instead,children who receive support from home may excel in areas of well-being (e.g. Lee-Corbin& Evans, 1996). The message taken from these current findings is for parents to showmore support for children who are participating in low numbers of extracurricular activi-ties. While support will benefit all children; these children require external support toincrease their overall well-being.

And finally, there was a significant interaction between parental support and activityinvolvement in the prediction of academic competence. Follow-up analysis revealed asignificant positive relationship between support and academic competence for children

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who participate in fewer numbers of activities, and not for children who participate inhigh numbers of activities.

Dearing (2004) examined the correlations between supportive parenting and academicsuccess across neighbourhoods differing in SES and quality. The author reported a positiverelationship between supportive parenting and academic success. Follow-up analysesrevealed that supportive parenting was more beneficial to children in low quality, low SESneighbourhoods. As previously discussed, there may be a tendency for children from lowSES families to participate in fewer activities, due to the expenses associated with activities.For these children, parental support will have a greater impact on academic success, thanfor children who participate in greater numbers of activities (i.e. children from high SESfamilies).

Another speculation is that parents may be able to provide seemingly more support tochildren in lower numbers of activities because they are able to attend all practices,games and performances. Also, children who participate in fewer activities may exhibitcharacteristics that require extra support from parents to increase their sense of self,such as low self-esteem. These positive influences of support will impact multiple areasof a child’s life, and schooling takes precedence in elementary aged children. Therefore,support will impact specifically upon a child’s perception of his or her academiccompetence.

In general, value is placed on involvement in many varieties of extracurricular activi-ties. Parental support and parental pressure may play an important role in how childrenperceive their abilities in different areas of their lives. How children understand theirabilities will impact upon their overall well-being, as well as their academic competence.Unfortunately, because of the increased value of these activities, some children may beexperiencing increased pressure from parents to succeed. This pressure will be negativelyassociated with well-being for children involved in many activities, and perceivedacademic competence for children involved in a low number of activities. However,increased parental support during activities will positively affect a child’s well-being andacademic success, particularly for those in fewer activities who may require additionalencouragement from parents.

Implications, limitations and the future

As a result of these findings, there exist multiple implications for real-world applications.For example, the implications for parental education about parental practices during extra-curricular activities are obvious. It is important to educate parents on the differencesbetween pressure and support. The manifestation of each of these parental variables maybe defined and discussed, as well as techniques to increase support and decrease pressure.It is also important to educate about the possible impacts pressure and support may haveon children.

One profession to which these results may speak directly would be School Psychology.Parental education may be carried out in group or individual settings. While counsellingfor families and parents may not be the primary responsibility of a school psychologist,there are many other instances during the school year where he or she could provide sucheducation. During parent–teacher meetings, individual parent meetings or school openhouse meetings, a school psychologist may act as an educator for parents. Similarly,extracurricular activities may sometimes be used as a therapeutic recommendation forchildren with low self-perception. In discussing this recommendation with parents, schoolpsychologists can educate regarding the importance of support for children.

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While the current study has opened the doors to additional research on the topic, thereare issues to keep in mind. First, the results cannot be generalised to all elementary schoolchildren. While an attempt was made to obtain data from a diverse population, byapproaching rural, suburban and inner city schools, volunteer bias was still evident. Thedemographics of the sample indicated that the majority of the respondents were from intactfamilies, living in middle to upper class homes. The majority of parents, both mothers andfathers, had obtained at least post-secondary education at the Bachelor’s level. Addition-ally, the children were mostly in either grade five or six. While the sample did not indicatedifferences between grades, it also did not equally represent all elementary grades.

The measurement used in the study, while not a limitation as such, may impact uponthe generalisability of the results. The current study used children’s self-reports of well-being and academic competence. While psychometrically sound self-reports such as theones used in this study can show amazing accuracy, they can have inherent biases. It ispossible that children gave more desirable answers than their true opinions. Futureresearch should attempt to compare a child’s perception to the perceptions of others,particularly for academic success. It would be interesting to investigate the discrepancies,if any, between the current measure of academic success and the actual grade a childwould receive in the classroom.

It is important for future researchers to attempt to replicate the results of this study byusing a broader sample base of children (i.e. different grades, at-risk groups of children).Should interactions exist for at-risk populations, such as children diagnosed withAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, then our knowledge base in this area would beenriched even further. Additional research may even provide further support for allchildren to have access to a variety of extracurricular activities.

Conclusion

Importantly, this study has provided new perspectives on topics lacking support in theexisting literature. One of the major findings is that parental support and pressure canhave a differing impact on children’s well-being and academic competence based on thefrequency of extracurricular activity. These significant interactions provide a foundationfor future research and an empirical springboard for those interested in deciphering thishighly complex set of issues.

Notes on contributorsDr. Daniel Lagacé-Séguin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Mount SaintVincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His main a reas of research are parenting(emotional and behavioural associates), temperament, and childhood outcomes..

Emily Case received both her BSc Honours in Psychology and her MA in School Psychology fromMount Saint Vincent University. She is currently a PhD candidate in School and Clinical Psychologyat the University of Toronto.

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