The Relationship Between Extracurricular Activities and Adolescents’ Academic Performance and Self-Concept

  • Daniil Alexandrov HSE University
  • Ksenia Tenisheva HSE University
  • Svetlana Savelyeva HSE University
Keywords: academic performance, extracurricular activities, self-concept, self-esteem, concerted cultivation

Abstract

The paper explores the relation between involvement of school students in extracurricular activities and their self-concept in mathematics and humanities as well as physical self-concept. The study is based on a survey involving over 5,000 ninth-graders from  schools in St. Petersburg, Leningrad Oblast and Pskov. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis methods reveal that involvement in extracurricular activities of any kind is positively related with academic performance, most strongly with educational achievements in foreign languages. We found no gender differences in the relationship between extracurricular activities and academic performance or self-concept; even sports have the same effects on the self-concept of boys and girls. Both structured and unstructured extracurricular activities are positively related with academic achievement, though the relation for unstructured activities is weaker. Engagement in two or three types structured extracurricular activities and in unstructured activities at the same time appears to be the most useful option in terms of academic achievement. Extracurricular activities also boost students’ self-concept in relevant academic domains. The strength of relationship between extracurricular activities and academic performance depends on the size of the city, being more conspicuous in small cities and towns than in megalopolises.

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Published
2017-12-20
How to Cite
Alexandrov, Daniil, Ksenia Tenisheva, and Svetlana Savelyeva. 2017. “The Relationship Between Extracurricular Activities and Adolescents’ Academic Performance and Self-Concept”. Voprosy Obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no. 4 (December), 217-41. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2017-4-217-241.
Section
Education Statistics and Sociology