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How Does High School Extracurricular Participation Predict Bachelor’s Degree Attainment? It is Complicated
Author(s) -
Gardner Margo,
Hutt Stephen,
Kamentz Donald,
Duckworth Angela L.,
D’Mello Sidney K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12557
Subject(s) - bachelor , graduation (instrument) , psychology , odds , degree (music) , bachelor degree , educational attainment , duration (music) , mathematics education , medical education , medicine , mathematics , statistics , political science , logistic regression , art , physics , literature , acoustics , law , geometry
This study answered novel questions about the connection between high school extracurricular dosage (number of activities and participation duration) and the attainment of a bachelor’s degree. Using data from the Common Application and the National Student Clearinghouse ( N = 311,308), we found that greater extracurricular participation positively predicted bachelor’s degree attainment. However, among students who ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree, participating in more than a moderate number of high school activities (3 or 4) predicted decreasing odds of earning a bachelor’s degree on time (within 4 years). This effect intensified as participation duration increased, such that students who participated in the greatest number of high school activities for the most years were the most likely to delay college graduation.