The Analysis of Extracurricular Activities and Their Relationship to Youth Violence

Stability and Change in Rural Youths’ Educational Outcomes Through the Middle and High School Years

“…Several studies with rural youth have shown that between about one-quarter to one-third of rural youth can be characterized as physically aggressive. Swaim and colleagues (2006) found that 33 percent of rural middle school youth were physically aggressive at school in the past 30 days, and Linville and Huebner (2005) found that 34% of rural youth in 8 th -12 th grade had a physical fight in the preceding year. Another study found that twenty-five percent of low-income rural and urban African American youth were characterized by a single-risk profile, which included academic risk, aggression, and low popularity (Farmer et al, 2004).…”

“…Activity participation has been linked to lower likelihood of school dropout, delinquency, and aggression (Linville & Huebner, 2005; Mahoney, 2000; Mahoney & Cairns, 1997). Some non-rural studies have shown that junior high school students participated in more school activities than high school students (Gifford & Dean, 1990) while others show that extracurricular activity participation increases from middle to high school with 38% to 29% non-participation between 7 th and 10 th grades (Mahoney et al, 2003).…”

“…Studies with rural youth show similar findings and suggest that rural youth may participate in more activities than urban and suburban youth (Stanley et al, 1998). Seventy-four percent of rural youth participate in afterschool activities (Linville & Huebner, 2005); 48% reported participation at least once a week (Huebner & Mancini, 2003). A scant amount of literature indicates that poor youth do not participate as frequently in extracurricular activities as their non-poor counterparts (McLoyd et al, 2009).…”

Coping Resources and Extra-Curricular Activity as Explanatory Factors of Exposure to Violence: Comparing Jewish and Arab Youth in Israel

“…However, relatively few extra-curricular activities are offered in low income communities with at-risk populations (Mahoney, Eccles, & Larson, 2004). Moreover, it appears that the extra-curricular activities do not serve minority populations to the same extent as they do for the majority and have mixed results (Linville & Huebner, 2005). In Israel, there is a need to elaborate research concerning extra-curricular activities outside of schools and to investigate different ethno-religious groups in regards to the relationship between extracurricular activities and risk behaviors such as violence (Tanus, 2009).…”

Wellness promotion in the schools: Enhancing students' mental and physical health

“…In moderation, participation in these sedentary leisure activities is innocuous, enjoyable, and, depending on the activity, educational. Nevertheless, overreliance on unstructured, sedentary activities can result in chronic boredom (Shaw, Caldwell, & Kleiber, 1996) and lack of initiative (Larson, 2000), and has been tied to a number of maladaptive outcomes, including juvenile delinquency (McHale, Crouter, & Tucker, 2001), youth violence (Linville & Huebner, 2005), depression (Barber, Eccles, & Stone, 2001), and suicide ideation (Mazza & Eggert, 2001). Excessive recreational screen time (i.e., leisure time spent watching television and videos, playing video games, and using the computer) is also associated with increases in the number of overweight children (Blom-Hoffman, Edwards George, & Franko, 2006;Ebbling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002).…”