Objective: The present study tested the protective role of youth's school-age extracurricular involvement and multiple informants' reports of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of youth from low-income households.
Method: Participating youth (n = 635, 49% female, 49% White, 28% Black/African American, 14% biracial, 8% other race, 13% Hispanic/Latinx) were drawn from the Early Steps Multisite Study. At ages 7.5, 8.5, and 9.5, primary caregivers reported the number of extracurricular activities for which youth participated (Parent Aftercare Survey). At ages 14 and 16, measures of internalizing and externalizing problems were collected from primary and alternate caregivers (Child Behavior Checklist) and target youth (Child Depression Inventory-Short Form, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and Self-Report of Delinquency). At age 16, target youth also contributed measures of risky sexual behaviors and substance use (Youth Risk Behavior Survey). Teachers contributed measures of youth's internalizing and externalizing problems at age 14 (Teacher Report Form).
Results: After accounting for the effects of multiple sociodemographic factors, initial levels of child problem behavior, and intervention group status, structural equation models revealed that school-age extracurricular involvement was inversely associated with latent factors representing adolescent externalizing, but not internalizing, problems at ages 14 (β = -.13, p < .01) and 16 (β = -.12, p = .02).
Conclusions: The present study suggests that low-income, school-age children's involvement in extracurricular activities serves a protective function in relation to adolescent externalizing problems. Future studies should assess underlying mechanisms and expand the scope of adolescent outcomes to include prosocial functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).