1. Jillian M. Wickery & Laura D. Pittman
Developmental Differences in the Link Between Activities and Achievement:
The Mediational Role of Self-Esteem and School Belonging
Jillian M. Wickery & Laura D. Pittman
Introduction
The psychological literature has begun to closely consider the developmental consequences of extracurricular activity participation for children and adolescents (Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003).
There is converging evidence suggesting that participation in extracurricular activities (I.e., sports and clubs) facilitates academic achievement as well as other aspects of positive development (e.g., Barber, Eccles, & Stone, 2001; Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003; Guest & Schneider, 2003; Mahoney, Cairns, & Farmer, 2003).
Though studies provide good evidence of the association between extracurricular activities and achievement, there is less research about the reasons for this association, and most research focuses on a young adolescent age group.
Two variables that may explain the link between extracurricular activity participation and achievement are enhanced self-esteem and school belonging (Bowker, 2006; Eccles et al., 2003) .
The purpose of this study was to examine self-esteem and school belonging as mediators of the relationship between extracurricular activities and achievement in 4th, 7th, and 10th grade students.
Discussion
The association between participation in extracurricular activities and achievement was positive and significant for 7th and 10th grade students, but not for 4th graders.
Most previous research has not examined the relationship between extracurricular activities and achievement for children as young as fourth grade, and thus, the current finding may be true. However, this main relationship might not have been significant for fourth grade because there was less variance in grades reported by fourth graders (SD = 1.03) than for 7th and 10th grade students (SD = 1.60 for 7th grade, 1.53 for 10th grade). In addition, there was less variance in the total number of activities reported by fourth graders (SD = 2.36) than for 7th or 10th graders (SD = 3.89 for 7th grade, 2.70 for 10th grade).
Previous research has found that self-esteem is positively related to extracurricular activity participation (Bowker, 2006; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006) and achievement (Liu, Kaplan, & Risser,1992; Rosenberg, Schooler, & Schoenbach,1989). Current findings indicated that self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and achievement for 7th and 10th graders.
Previous research has demonstrated that school belonging is positively associated with students’ participation in extracurricular activities (Finn, 1989; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999) as well as their academic achievement levels (Barber et al., 2001; Eccles & Barber, 1999). In this study, participation in extracurricular activities was not significantly associated with school belonging for 10th grade students. Therefore, school belonging cannot be considered a mediator of the relationship between activities and achievement for 10th graders. However, school belonging did function as a mediator of the relationship between extracurricular activities and achievement for seventh graders.
It appears that school belonging functions differently for 7th graders than for 4th or 10th grade students. It is possible that the sense of belonging is more important for pre-adolescent, seventh grade students.
Results
Sample Characteristics
Total Sample
4th Grade
7th Grade
10th Grade
Variable
Range M SD
Student Age
8 – 17 years
12.73
2.44
9.71
.55
12.76
.46
15.50
.52
Grades
2 (Mostly Ds and F’s) – 9 (Mostly As)
7.66
1.44
7.98
1.03
7.78
1.59
7.27
1.53
Self-Esteem
26 (Low) – 78 (High)
51.81
9.75
53.92
9.88
51.45
10.77
50.20
8.26
School Belonging
1 (Low) – 5 (High)
3.93
.66
4.10
.57
3.85
.69
.70
Total Activities
0 – 16
3.76
3.11
2.82
2.36
4.47
3.89
3.98
2.70
Regression Analyses
Regression Analyses Testing Mediation of the Link between Extracurricular Activities and Achievement by Self-Esteem and School Belonging for Fourth Graders (N = 87)
Variable
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Model 4 B
SE B β Β
Student sexa
-.01
.23
.02
.01
-.00
# of parents in householdb
.36
.00
.08
.35
.03
.05
.37
.06
Student racec
-.25
.32
-.09
-.05
-.02
-.21
-.08
-.04
Total activities
Self-esteem
.29*
.04
.39*
School belonging
.19
.20
.11
.26
-.14
Constant
7.99
.54
6.26
.85
7.16
1.03
6.77
1.01 R²
.25
.09
1.52
.38
1.41
F-Ratio
Participation in extracurricular activities is not significantly related to achievement in fourth grade students; thus, school belonging and self-esteem cannot be considered mediators. Self-esteem significantly predicts achievement, whereas school belonging does not.
Methods
Data was collected from students in grades 4, 7, and 10 (N = 268).
Students who returned consent forms indicating parent
permission were administered the measures during a regular class
period.
Measures
To determine students’ levels of participation in extracurricular
activities, a method similar to that used by Eccles and
colleagues (e.g., Barber et al., 2001; Eccles et al., 2003) was used.
Students were provided with lists of sports and clubs and indicated
which, if any, they participated in. A frequency count was created
for extracurricular activities by adding together the number of sports
and clubs each student participated in overall.
Achievement levels were assessed through self-report of grades.
The Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, Second Edition
(Piers & Harris, 2002) was used to assess students’ self-esteem.
Students’ levels of school belonging were assessed via the
Psychological Sense of School Membership (Goodenow, 1993).
Data Analysis
All analyses controlled for student’s race, gender, and type of household (i.e., one versus two parent).
Analyses were run separately for each grade level.
Four regression models were run to test for mediation by school belonging and self-esteem as follows:
Model 1 examined the link between extracurricular activities and
achievement.
Model 2 added self-esteem to Model 1 to test for mediation.
Model 3 added school belonging to Model 1 to test for mediation.
Model 4 included both self-esteem and school belonging to
determine which mediator accounted for more variance.
Also run (but not shown) was a model examining the link between
extracurricular activities and each mediator, as needed for
mediation to occur (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
                                       
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < a 1 = Male, 2 = female; b 0 = one-parent, 1 = two-parent; c 0 = White, 1 = other race
             
                                       
Regression Analyses Testing Mediation of the Link between Extracurricular Activities and Achievement by Self-Esteem and School Belonging for Seventh Graders (N = 87)
Variable
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Model 4 B
SE B β Β
Student sexa
.75
.32
.23*
.61
.30
.19*
.74
.31
.64
.20*
# of parents in householdb
.56
.50
.11
.45
.46
.09
.34
.48
.07
.41
.08
Student racec
.06
.35
.02
-.03
-.01
-.10
.33
-.07
-.02
Total activities
.13
.04
.31**
.10
.19
Self-esteem
.45***
.05
.37*
School belonging
.82
.24
.35***
.26
Constant
5.53
.71
2.84
.90
2.86
1.02
2.31
.99 R²
.18
4.37
7.90
.28
6.32
6.66
F-Ratio
Participation in extracurricular activities is positively related to achievement for seventh graders (p < .01). Self-esteem and school belonging fully mediate the relationship between extracurricular activities and achievement. However, school belonging is no longer significant when self-esteem is included.
References
Barber, B. L., Eccles, J. S., & Stone, M. R. (2001). Whatever happened to the jock, the brain, and the princess? Young adult pathways linked to adolescent activity involvement and social identity. Journal of Adolescent Research, 16,
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction
in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical
considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51,
Bowker, A. (2006). The relationship between sports participation and self-esteem during early adolescence. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 38,
Eccles, J. S., & Barber, B. L.. (1999). Student council, volunteering, basketball, or marching band: What kind of extracurricular involvement matters? Journal of Adolescent Research, 14,
Eccles, J. S., Barber, B. L., Stone, M. & Hunt, J. (2003). Extracurricular activities and adolescent development. Journal of Social Issues, 59,
Finn, J. D. (1989). Withdrawing from school. Review of Educational Research, 59,
Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Extracurricular involvement and adolescent adjustment: Impact of duration, number of activities, and breadth of participation. Applied Developmental Science, 10,
Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30,
Guest, A., & Schneider, B. (2003). Adolescents’ extracurricular participation in context: The mediating effects of schools, communities, and identity. Sociology of Education, 76,
Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (1999). The relative effects of principal and teacher sources of leadership on student engagement with school. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35,
Liu, X., Kaplan, H. B., & Risser, W. (1992). Decomposing the reciprocal relationships between academic achievement and general self-esteem. Youth and Society, 24,
 Mahoney, J. L., Cairns, B. D., & Farmer, T. (2003). Promoting interpersonal competence and educational success through extracurricular activity participation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95,
Piers, E. V., & Harris, D. B. (2002). The Way I Feel About Myself: Piers Harris 2. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Rosenberg, M., Schooler, C., & Schoenbach, C. (1989). Self-esteem and adolescent
problems: Modeling reciprocal effects. American Sociological Review, 54,
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < a 1 = Male, 2 = female; b 0 = one-parent, 1 = two-parent; c 0 = White, 1 = other race
Regression Analyses Testing Mediation of the Link between Extracurricular Activities and Achievement by Self-Esteem and School Belonging for 10th Graders (N = 94)
Participation in extracurricular activities is positively related to achievement for 10th graders (p < .01). Self-esteem fully mediates the relationship between activities and achievement. However, self-esteem is no longer significant when school belonging is included. The relationship between activities and school belonging was not significant; thus, school belonging cannot be considered a mediator.
Variable
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Model 4 B
SE B β Β
Student sexa
.31
.32
.10
.47
.15
.37
.30
.12
.43
.14
# of parents in householdb
.27
.44
.06
.40
.42
.09
.45
.11
Student racec
-.08
-.02
-.20
-.04
-.13
-.03
-.17
Total activities
.17
.29**
.20
.24*
.21*
Self-esteem
.05
.02
.29***
.03
School belonging
.70
.22
.32*
.53
.26
Constant
5.88
.69
3.04
1.22
2.33
1.26 R²
2.51
3.69
4.32
.21
3.84
F-Ratio
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < a 1 = Male, 2 = female; b 0 = one-parent, 1 = two-parent; c 0 = White, 1 = other race