EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AND ADOLESCENT SELF-ESTEEM: A MULTIVARIATE STUDY

This study was conducted to investigate in a controlled multivariate fashion the effects of participation and involvement in extracurricular activities on adolescent self-esteem and to analyze for possible sex differerces in these relationships. Middle-class high school students (N=445) completed measures of self-esteem, degree of participation in extracurricular activities, involvement in extracurricular activities, cumulative grade point average, and number of hours students spent working at a job outside of school each week. The results indicated no significant predictors of self-esteem among males. Among females, the significant predictors of self-esteem were the number of hours of work, age, and curricular track (college preparatory, general, business, vocational-technical). Being older, working fewer hours, and being in the business or vocational versus the general or college preparatory curricular track were associated with higher levels of self-esteem for females. Sex differences in the predictor variables were significant. Neither participation nor involvement in extracurricular activities were significantly associated with adolescent self-esteem. (NB) 300000000(XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX3000000000000000900000(XXXXXXXX 3 ( Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made X 3 ( from the original document.