A Comparison of Dropouts and Nondropouts on Participation in School Activities

Relationship of student self-concept and selected personal variables to participation in school activities.

“…Following in this tradition, researchers (Bell, 1967;Bourgon, 1967;Coleman, 1961;Eidsmore, 1963;Koenig, 1969;McCray, 1967;Milliren, 1974;Nichols et al, 1973;Polk & Halferty, 1972;Schafer, 1972;Schafer, Oxela, & Polk, 1972;Schendel, 1965;Smith, 1964;Spady, 1971;Wertz, 1965) found significant relationships between participating in both athletic and nonathletic activities and academic achievement, curriculum track membership, post high school career aspirations, and stable personality characteristics. This research ties directly to Super's (1957;Super, Starishevsky, Maflin, & Jordan, 1963) belief that vocational self-concepts (defined by membership in certain career paths through school) are part of the general self-concept that students possess; hence, one should expect a correlation between self-concept, curriculum track membership, academic achievement, and school activity participation.…”

Do extracurricular activities protect against early school dropout?

“…Alternatively, competent students may be actively sought out by the institution to participate in the activities and fill leadership roles. Unfortunately, a parallel criticism applies to retrospective accounts of linkages between extracurricular involvement and school dropout, in which autobiographical constructions may confound the sequence and significance of historical events (e.g., Bell, 1967;Ross, 1989). To evaluate the directionality of the relationship between extracurricular activity and school dropout, research should prospectively track individuals beginning at a point in which there were little or no opportunities for extracurricular involvement and prior to dropout.…”