Why Most Students Study Extracurricular Activities Essay Example
Why Most Students Study Extracurricular Activities Essay Example

Why Most Students Study Extracurricular Activities Essay Example

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  • Pages: 2 (484 words)
  • Published: June 28, 2022
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The release of certain hormones and the decrease in others through physical activity can significantly contribute to mental relief. In youth team sports, children are exposed to other children like themselves and are required to interact with them. These interactions encourage positive social engagement because of how closely children must work together to achieve the common goal of winning. In these contexts, organized by an adult authoritative figure, children can be taught lessons that apply outside of their sport like leadership. Furthermore, the time that adolescents commit to their sport can be highly impactful in averting them from risk behaviors such as underage sex, drinking, and drug abuse. Youth team sports serve to contribute to the development of underserved minority children physically, mentally, and socially.

Around 75% of middle and high school students are actively involved in at least one school-based extracurricu

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lar activity (Feldman & Matjasko, 2007). These extracurricular activities include individual and team sports, clubs, musical groups, and student government. Research evidence has found that participation in extracurriculars has been linked to higher levels of prosocial behavior and school engagement, when compared to students that do not participate in such activities (Eccles & Barber, 1999). Students have even confessed their primary motives for participating in sports and clubs is having the opportunity to make friends and to interact with friends (Simpkins, Vest, Delgado, & Price, 2012).

However, as to which activities stand to benefit students more is still up for debate. Sports provide optimal setting features that contribute more to a child’s social development than participation in other extracurriculars can. While academic clubs and organizations are much more cognitively driven, youth sports adds the aspect o

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physical exertion, making for much more complex and stimulating environments. Participation in sports gives children a greater sense of self being, belonging and closer social ties among students, parents, and schools (Broh, 2002). Conversely, participation in extracurricular activities in the area of performance arts (piano, dance, theater) have been more consistently related to higher grades and academic values than is participation in sports (Denault & Poulin, 2009).

A longitudinal study performed by Hughes, Cao, and Kwok (2016) at Texas Agriculture and Manufacturing University discovered significant findings that support the greater benefit of sports participation, as it pertains to students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This group also found that students that participate in performance arts or clubs do not experience the same degree of increased levels of prosocial norms of friends. The support that stems from these social groups is what accounts for increases in the students’ academic adequacy beliefs, sense of belonging in school, grades, and classroom behavioral engagement. The discrepancy between sports and other extracurricular activities can be attested to greater emphasis on cohesive thought and effort in team sports. For example, baseball players on defense must be able to know their teammates positions in order to know where to throw the baseball to minimize the possibility of the opposing team scoring.

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