How do youth choose activities? Assessing the relative importance of the micro-selection mechanisms behind adolescent extracurricular activity participation

The duality of networks and groups: Models to generate two-mode networks from one-mode networks

“…Across many empirical contexts, this degree distribution tends to be positively skewed because most people are associated with just a few foci, while some people are associated with many foci. For example, most students participate in just a few extracurricular activities while some participate in many (Schaefer et al, 2022), most legislators sponsor just a few bills while some sponsor many (Neal, 2020), and most authors write just a few papers while some write many (Filho & O'Neale, 2020b).…”

“…Again, across many empirical contexts this degree distribution tends to be positively skewed because most foci have just a few members, while some foci have many members. For example, most extracurricular activities have just a few participants while some have many (Schaefer et al, 2022), most bills are sponsored by just a few legislators while some are sponsored by many (Neal, 2020), and most papers have just a few authors while some have many (Filho & O'Neale, 2020b).…”

“…Indeed, his diagram of the dynamics of the focus model is cyclical, with foci creating ties, which in turn create new foci. Schaefer et al (2022) provided some of the most direct empirical evidence of this process, finding that direct influence from friends was the single most important exogeneous predictor of whether a high school student would form or join a new extracurricular activity. However, none of focus theory's twenty propositions deal with how or when ties generate foci.…”

“…However, none of focus theory's twenty propositions deal with how or when ties generate foci. Similarly, Schaefer et al (2022) examined the circumstances under which individuals join existing foci, but not how new foci emerge. In this section I describe three theoretically-motivated models for how foci might emerge from social networks, and similarly how two-mode networks might be generated from one-mode networks.…”

“…First, each model describes the emergence of independent foci, where individuals' participation in one focus does not influence their participation in future foci. This simplifying assumption allows the models to require only one parameter, and may be a reasonable one as Schaefer et al (2022) find the effect of 'co-member influence' is relatively weak. Nonetheless, in non-school contexts it may be an implausible assumption -if I join you for happy hour one Friday, I'm likely to join you for happy hour again the following week -that future models could seek to relax.…”