Afterschool and in Trouble: A Latent Class Analysis of the Protective Effect of Extracurricular Participation

Background:Adolescents’ school behaviors are crucial to their developmental trajectories, and their educational and socioeconomic attainment, and is especially concerning when school problem behaviors co-occur. Intervention with these youth is necessary, but different types of youth may require specific interventions. However, directed interventions can be costly for school districts. Extracurricular activities are one approach that may better engage at-risk youth. Although extracurricular activities are associated positive school outcomes, it remains unknown if they are protective against the risks associated with school problem behaviors.

Purpose: This study (1) examines patterns of school problem behaviors amongst adolescents, (2) examines the association of these patterns with later academic outcomes, and (3) evaluates if this association varies as a function of extracurricular participation.

Methods: Data was drawn from four waves of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (n=16,198). Patterns of school problem behaviors were identified through latent class analyses (LCA) with four behavioral indicators: tardiness, absence, skipping class and suspension/expulsion. An auxiliary estimation function was used to assess for differences in GPA two years later, high school graduation, college enrollment, and college completion. Lastly, analyses assessed if the association between class membership and these academic outcomes varied as a function of extracurricular participation in one of three activities: sports, performance activities, or school clubs. All analyses were conditioned on race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status.

Results: Latent class analyses identified four classes of youth: a high-risk class (19%) with high levels of all four behaviors, a high-suspension class (10%) which had high rates of suspension/expulsion, but only moderate rates of other behaviors; a highly-absent class (30%) with high rates of absenteeism but low rates of other behaviors, and finally a low-risk class (41%) with low rates of all behaviors (entropy = .768, LMR-LRT = .027). The high-risk class and high suspension classes were found to have significantly lower GPAs, lower levels of high school graduation, college enrollment, and college completion. In general, extracurricular participation was associated with more positive educational outcomes for each behavioral class. However, the extent of this variation varied across the classes. Specifically, extracurricular participation was associated with the largest difference in outcomes for the low-risk class, but the least difference for the high risk and high-suspension classes. The highly-absent class had varied trends. Although highly-absent youth did not benefit as much from sports participation as the low-risk class, they generally benefitted just as much from performance and school club participation.

Implications:  Findings suggest that extracurricular participation is associated with improved education outcomes for youth with different school problem behaviors. Participation in performance activities and school clubs may be particularly beneficial for youth with high levels of absences.  In contrast, sports may be as useful as other activities for youth with high rates of other problem behaviors. School social workers and other staff should consider incorporating extracurricular activities as part of strategies to improve outcomes among at-risk youth. Additionally, schools may consider removing barriers that limit the participation of high-risk youth.