Extracurricular Activities and Chinese Children’s School Readiness: Who Benefits More?

Lixin Ren; Jianbao Chen; Xuan Li; Huiping Wu; Jieqiong Fan; Lin Li

doi:10.1111/cdev.13456

Extracurricular Activities and Chinese Children’s School Readiness: Who Benefits More?

Lixin Ren, Jianbao Chen^*, Xuan Li, Huiping Wu, Jieqiong Fan, Lin Li

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Organized extracurricular activities (EAs) are prevalent among Chinese preschoolers, yet their role in children’s development is poorly understood. This study investigated the relations between EA participation and Chinese preschoolers’ school readiness (N = 343; M_age = 55.14 months) among a predominantly middle-class sample. EA breadth had positive linear relations with children’s early math and social skills, while attendance intensity demonstrated nonlinear associations, partially supporting the overscheduling hypothesis. EA breadth had stronger associations with early reading and math skills among lower socioeconomic status children, as well as greater benefits for math skills in children with less exposure to home learning activities, indicating a compensatory role of EAs. The findings highlight the interplay between EA and family contexts in relation to child development.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1028-1047
Number of pages	20
Journal	Child Development
Volume	92
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13456
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2021
Externally published	Yes

Access to Document

10.1111/cdev.13456

Cite this

@article{7cc5baea6c074e299d636d27b5d88b76,

title = "Extracurricular Activities and Chinese Children{\textquoteright}s School Readiness: Who Benefits More?",

abstract = "Organized extracurricular activities (EAs) are prevalent among Chinese preschoolers, yet their role in children{\textquoteright}s development is poorly understood. This study investigated the relations between EA participation and Chinese preschoolers{\textquoteright} school readiness (N = 343; Mage = 55.14 months) among a predominantly middle-class sample. EA breadth had positive linear relations with children{\textquoteright}s early math and social skills, while attendance intensity demonstrated nonlinear associations, partially supporting the overscheduling hypothesis. EA breadth had stronger associations with early reading and math skills among lower socioeconomic status children, as well as greater benefits for math skills in children with less exposure to home learning activities, indicating a compensatory role of EAs. The findings highlight the interplay between EA and family contexts in relation to child development.",

author = "Lixin Ren and Jianbao Chen and Xuan Li and Huiping Wu and Jieqiong Fan and Lin Li",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Peak Discipline Construction Project of Education at East China Normal University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2017ECNU‐HLYT002). This work was also partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (No. 2018J05002) and the Program for Probability and Statistics: Theory and Application (No. IRTL1704) to the second and fourth authors. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Society for Research in Child Development",

year = "2021",

month = may,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/cdev.13456",

language = "English",

volume = "92",

pages = "1028--1047",

journal = "Child Development",

issn = "0009-3920",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Extracurricular Activities and Chinese Children’s School Readiness

T2 - Who Benefits More?

AU - Ren, Lixin

AU - Chen, Jianbao

AU - Li, Xuan

AU - Wu, Huiping

AU - Fan, Jieqiong

AU - Li, Lin

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Peak Discipline Construction Project of Education at East China Normal University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2017ECNU‐HLYT002). This work was also partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (No. 2018J05002) and the Program for Probability and Statistics: Theory and Application (No. IRTL1704) to the second and fourth authors. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Society for Research in Child Development

PY - 2021/5/1

Y1 - 2021/5/1

N2 - Organized extracurricular activities (EAs) are prevalent among Chinese preschoolers, yet their role in children’s development is poorly understood. This study investigated the relations between EA participation and Chinese preschoolers’ school readiness (N = 343; Mage = 55.14 months) among a predominantly middle-class sample. EA breadth had positive linear relations with children’s early math and social skills, while attendance intensity demonstrated nonlinear associations, partially supporting the overscheduling hypothesis. EA breadth had stronger associations with early reading and math skills among lower socioeconomic status children, as well as greater benefits for math skills in children with less exposure to home learning activities, indicating a compensatory role of EAs. The findings highlight the interplay between EA and family contexts in relation to child development.

AB - Organized extracurricular activities (EAs) are prevalent among Chinese preschoolers, yet their role in children’s development is poorly understood. This study investigated the relations between EA participation and Chinese preschoolers’ school readiness (N = 343; Mage = 55.14 months) among a predominantly middle-class sample. EA breadth had positive linear relations with children’s early math and social skills, while attendance intensity demonstrated nonlinear associations, partially supporting the overscheduling hypothesis. EA breadth had stronger associations with early reading and math skills among lower socioeconomic status children, as well as greater benefits for math skills in children with less exposure to home learning activities, indicating a compensatory role of EAs. The findings highlight the interplay between EA and family contexts in relation to child development.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089783776&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.13456

DO - 10.1111/cdev.13456

M3 - Article

C2 - 32840884

AN - SCOPUS:85089783776

SN - 0009-3920

VL - 92

SP - 1028

EP - 1047

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 3

ER -

Extracurricular Activities and Chinese Children’s School Readiness: Who Benefits More?

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this