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Extracurricular Activities and The Social Status Effect for Student
By: Adam Kiersey
9 February 2016
Intro to Research
Karl Heidrick
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School is a time when being popular and accepted by peers is very important
( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) . Social status and peer acceptance are often gained by
being good at something that other children want or value ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r ,
1 9 9 2 ) . It is suggested that social status is earned in activities that are conspicuous and
bring credit to the school, such as participating in sports ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) .
Not only is sport participation important to students, but it is also often thought of as one of
the dominant values in American society ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) . Extracurricular
activities can be more than just sports; for example, students will participate in band or an
academic club such as a math club.
Gender differences occur in the importance of sports as a social status among
adolescences ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) . Studies involving high school males have
found that being a good athlete was the most important for the male social status among
their peers ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) . Studies involving high school females,
however, have found that being a leader in an activity was most important for determining
their social status ( C h a s e , & D u m m e r , 1 9 9 2 ) .
Leisure activities provide opportunities for identity exploration and skill building
( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) as well as both social differentiation and
integration. School based extracurricular activities provide highly structured leisure
environments, in which adolescents/students can apply control and express their identity
through their choice of activity and actions within the setting, but which do not normally
facilitate experimentation with roles and activities that aren’t approved by adults
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( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) . Participation in school based extracurricular
activities can provide students access to social networks, activities, resources, and
equipment that they might not be able to have or use if they were not participating in these
activities.
Mahoney and Stattin (2000) characterize that highly structured activities as
including regular participation schedules, rule-guided engagement, direction by one or
more adult activity leaders , and emphasis on skill development that is continually
increasing in complexity and challenge, activity performance that requires sustained active
attention, and clear feedback on performance (pages 114-115). These characteristics
facilitate the development of initiative and lead to healthy adolescent development
( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) . Although outside of the narrowly defined
academic curricular, such as math, science, social studies, and English, extra activities have
traditionally been offered by schools as a way to offer developmental and leadership
opportunities for youth and to build school spirit ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h ,
2 0 0 5 ) . The positive impact that extracurricular activities can have on a school’s academic
mission is sometimes emphasized by use of the term, co-curricular, to describe nonacademic school-based activities ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) , although the
term, co-curricular, is sometimes limited to activities outside of the classroom explicitly to
complement student learning.
Extracurricular activities have been touted by their proponents as enabling youths
to socialize with peers and adults, set and achieve goals, compete fairly, recover from
defeat, and resolve disputes peaceably ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) . At the
psychological level, it has been argue that extracurricular activities stand out from other
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aspects of adolescents’ lives at school because they provide opportunity for identity work,
develop initiative, and allow youth to develop emotional competencies and new social
skills. At a more macro level, they argue that activity participation also allows youth to
form new connections with peers and acquire social capital. In addition, extracurricular
activities are one of the few contexts in which adolescents regularly come in contact with
unrelated adults outside of the classroom ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) .
The benefits of participating in structured leisure activities are certainly not limited
to school-based extracurricular activities. However, school-based extracurricular activities
are unique in several ways. First, they are one of the few aspects of leisure actively
promoted by schools and are therefore amenable to programmatic and social policy
initiatives. As an example, requirements for art, music, and physical education may expose
youth to experiences that they may not have at home. It can also encourage them to enroll
in school-based extracurricular activities such as band, theater, or sports, and improve
their leisure outside of school. Although most extracurricular activities are offered after
school, sometimes as part of an extended-care initiative for older students, some schools
allow students to participate in teacher-sponsored extracurricular activities during what
would otherwise be traditional study halls ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h ,
2 0 0 5 ) . These activities allow students to engage in reading, magic, juggling, model
building, knitting, or wood working. Second, and most importantly, there are strong
theoretical reasons for arguing that expanding adolescents’ ties to the school through
participation in extracurricular activities will enhance students’ bonds to their school as an
institution, increase social control over the individuals, and increase positive network ties
to both teachers and to students ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) .
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Structured leisure experiences offer many potential benefits to youth. There may be
logistical and practical advantages to offering youth the opportunity to participate in
structured leisure in the context of school-based extracurricular activities. In addition,
leisure activities in the school setting may help foster additional emotional bonds to the
school, create opportunities for emotional bonding to teachers and other school-associated
adults in a situation outside of the classroom, and will increase students’ emotional
commitment to school and the adult-sanctioned values associated with schools ( D a r l i n g ,
C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) . Extracurricular activities also provide youth the
opportunity to associate with peers different from those they would at home or in the
classroom.
Recent studies have documented the association of participation in school-based
extracurricular activities with higher levels of academic commitment and better academic
performance ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) , lower rates of high school
dropouts (Mahoney & Stattin, 2000;), and lower levels of delinquency and arrests
( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ; Mahoney & Stattin, 2000). Participation in
extracurricular activities also facilitates the development of positive social relations across
ethnic groups ( D a r l i n g , C a l d w e l l , & S m i t h , 2 0 0 5 ) , particularly in boys. Research
documenting the benefits of extracurricular activities and other leisure related courses are
critical at a time when many school administrators are facing strong pressure to cut all
activities that do not directly contribute to the core academic curriculum (Deasy, 2003).
Along with financial concerns, an increase of paperwork loads and the importance of
standardized test performance have created added pressure on the teachers, as well as
worries that can distract students from academics.
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Separate studies were done in different years by different researchers and the data
was collected to see what males and females viewed as being important to their social lives.
A questionnaire was given out with written questions based on school related behaviors,
such as academic, achievement, engagement in classes, extracurricular participation, but
also included were measures of family relationships and parenting behaviors, peer
relationships, deviance, and psychological adjustments. Also included were demographic
questions such as gender, grade level, and ethnic background. The questionnaire had three
questions addressing popularity (personal, female, and male) and one addressing preferred
activities. The subjects were also asked to rank in order of importance four criteria (make
good grades, being good at sports, being handsome or pretty, or having lots of money) that
would make them more popular with their classmates (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith 1999).
For this questionnaire, consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardians. Both the
females and males were asked to rank the same four criteria relative to the popularity of
females and then the males.
Preliminary descriptive analysis was performed examining the types of
extracurricular activities students named as most important. In order of frequency, the
most common activities listed by students included were: baseball and basketball (7%
each), band and chorus (combined), swim team, soccer, and football (6% each), track and
tennis (5% each), school play, cheerleading, student government, wrestling, and pom-pom
squad (3% each) (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith 1999). Patterns of participation co-varied
with all demographic procedures. Boys were slightly more likely to participate in
extracurricular activities than girls. Among those who participated in the study, boys were
more likely than girls to name a sport as their most important activity and less likely to
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name other extracurricular activities. There was no difference in extracurricular activity
participation by grade (freshmen-seniors) (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith 1999). However,
younger students who participated were more likely than older students to name a sport as
their most important activity, while the seniors were twice as likely as freshmen to name a
club. Adolescence whose parents had less education was distinctly less likely to participate
than their classmates who were from more highly educated families (Darling, Caldwell, &
Smith 1999). Participating adolescents whose parents were less educated were less likely
to name a sport as most important and more likely to name a club compared to the
adolescents of college educated parents (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith 1999).
In Darling, Caldwell, and Smith’s study (1999) the following was discovered that
extracurricular activity participation also varied as a function of ethnicity, with HispanicAmerican youth less likely to participate in extracurricular activities than their peers.
Among students who participated in extracurricular activities, Asian-American students
were relatively less likely to name a sport as most important and more likely to name a
club. European- American students were twice as likely to name music groups as students
of other ethnic backgrounds. Overall, demographic background characteristics predicted
both whether adolescents participated in extracurricular activities and the type of activities
they participated in if they chose to do so (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith 1999).
The popularity part of the questionnaire showed that appearance has become
important and sports and academic achievement less important in determining personal
popularity for girls, while Sports and appearance have become more important and
academic achievement less important in determining personal popularity for boys (Chase
& Dummer, 1992). Both boys and girls were asked to identify criteria associated with male
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popularity. Chi-square analysis revealed that significant gender associations occurred in
the determinants of male social status (Chase & Dummer, 1992). The males in this study
chose being good at sports as the most important criteria for being popular, being
handsome second, having good grades third, and having lots of money being fourth. The
girls were asked to answer these questions about the boys and they chose a boy being
handsome most often, being good at sports second, getting good grades third, and having
lots of money fourth in determining the popularity of the guys (Chase & Dummer, 1999).
Boys at each grade level chose being good at sports as the most important determent of
male popularity. Significant grade level associations did occur when the girls selected
determinants of male social status. The girls indicated that appearance became more
important in determining male popularity at each higher grade level (Chase & Dummer,
1999).
In the Chase and Dummer (1999) study the males and females were also asked to
determine which criteria made girls more popular with classmates. In the study, the boys
chose being pretty as the most important criteria for determining female popularity,
getting good grades second, being good at sports third, and having lots of money fourth. In
the study the girls chose being pretty most often, getting good grades second, being good at
sports third, and having lots of money fourth. Significant gender associations were found in
the determinants of female social status. Boys and girls found appearance the most
important determinant of female social status; however, significant associations occurred
in the importance of having lots of money with the girls choosing this criterion more often
than the boys in the study. No grade levels associations were revealed when the boys
selected determinants of female social status. Significant associations were found in the
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determinants of female social status for girls. In Chase and Dummer’s (1999) study the
girls’ responses indicated that appearance becomes increasingly more important in
determining a female’s popularity at each higher grade level.
The role of sports in determining female social status among peers has not changed
much over the years. Sport and other extracurricular activities were not as important
determinant of social status for girls in this study, nor were sports indicated by a majority
as an activity in which they wanted to participate (Chase & Dummer, 1999).
A research that has been done over the year had suggested that girls like to
participate in athletics, but that negative labels associated with female participation in
athletics discouraged the selection of athletics as a social status determinant (Chase &
Dummer, 1999). In the study by Chase and Dummer (1999) sport participation was the
least favorite activity in which girls preferred to participate and the third choice for
popularity determinant.
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Chase, M, & Dummer, G. (1992). The role of sports as a social status
determinant for children. Research Quarterly for Exercise and
Sport, 63(4), 418-424.
Darling, N, Caldwell, L, & Smith, R. (2005). Participation in school based extracurricular activities and adolescent adjustment.
Journal of Leisure Research, 37(1), 51-76.
Deasy, R. J. (2003) Don’t axe the arts. Principal, January/February, 14 15