Extracurricular activity participation moderates impact of family and school factors on adolescents' disruptive behavioural problems

Leisure time activities in adolescents predict problematic technology use

The problematic use of technology of children and adolescents is becoming a growing problem. Research has shown that excessive technology use predicts a variety of psychological and physical health problems. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of leisure time activities (structured and unstructured) in adolescents as a predictor of problematic technology use. Participants were 7723 adolescents, of which 55% were girls, from four Spanish-speaking countries (Chile, Spain, Mexico, and Peru) between the ages of 13 and 18 years. The evaluation instrument applied was the YOURLIFE project self-report questionnaire. Two executive functions were measured: goal setting and inhibitory control. Using structural equation modeling, findings indicated that structured leisure time activities predicted less PTU, whereas unstructured activities predicted more PTU, MLχ2 (69, N = 7723) = 806.60; CFI = 0.929, RMSEA = 0.042, and the model had good predictive capacity for PTU (R2 = 0.46). Structured and unstructured activities also showed indirect effects on PTU through executive functions. As adolescents spent more time in unstructured leisure activities, poorer goal setting, inhibitory control skills, and more PTU were found. The opposite was true for structured leisure time activities. Implications of structured leisure activities to develop executive functioning and to prevent PTU for adolescents are discussed.

Family socioeconomic status and the parent-child relationship in Chinese adolescents: the multiple serial mediating roles of visual art activities

BACKGROUND

In light of the recent policy reform in China, the present study aims to investigate the potential impact of family SES on the quality of the parent-child relationship (PCR) through the serial mediating role of participation in organized visual art activities in privately owned centers (VAA1) and parent-supervised visual art activities (VAA2) across genders.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted in anonymous province located in the southwestern part of China. A total of 1624 primary school students aged 7 to 14 years were recruited through a random sampling technique. Subsequently, anonymous survey responses were taken from all students. Multiple serial mediation analysis was performed by using AMOS 21.0 software to attain the primary aim of the study.

RESULT

According to the total sample model result, SES has a significant direct effect on the parent-child relationship (β = 0.47, p < 0.001), children's participation in VAA1 (β = 0.197, p < 0.001) and VAA2 (β = 0.269, p < 0.001). Moreover, the mediation model result indicates that SES has a stronger indirect effect on the parent-child relationship through a mediating role of VAA1 (βgirl = 0.08, p < 0.01; βboys = 0.04, p < 0.01) for female than male samples. However, the mediating effect of VVA2 between SES and the parent-child relationship in the female (β = 0.08, p < 0.001) and male (β = 0.08, p < 0.01) models is equal, although female gender is highly significant. Ultimately, the serial mediation analysis result affirms that the serially mediating role of VAA1 and VAA2 between SES and the parent-child relationship was equal across genders (βboys = 0.001, p < 0.001; βgirls = 0.001, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Unlike previous studies, this study's multigroup model shows that both male and female children can equally restore their relationship with their parents by having substantial participation in both VAA1 and VAA2. Thus, parents ought to play the main role in facilitating and supporting children's visual art activities without parenting that shows a gender bias.

Organized Activity Involvement Predicts Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Adolescence

Despite the expected benefits of organized activity involvement (e.g., sports, clubs), inconsistencies in associations between activity involvement and internalizing and externalizing problems may be explained in part by limitations of measurements and variations between individuals. To address these gaps, a latent variable of organized activity participation was tested as a predictor of internalizing and externalizing problems, and initial child adjustment was tested as a moderator of the outcomes from activity participation. Participants included 431 adolescents (52.2% female; ages 12-13 in seventh grade) from the Child Development Project. Adolescents self-reported activity involvement (seventh grade) and internalizing problems (seventh and ninth grades); mothers reported on adolescents' externalizing problems (seventh and eighth grade). Structural equation models showed that an activity involvement latent variable predicted lower internalizing problems. The interaction between activity involvement and initial level of externalizing problems predicted externalizing problems. Specifically, higher levels of activity involvement predicted lower levels of externalizing problems at initially lower levels of externalizing problems. However, at higher levels of initial externalizing problems, higher levels of activity involvement predicted higher levels of externalizing problems. The results suggest that activity involvement reduces risk for subsequent internalizing problems but could increase or decrease risk for subsequent externalizing problems depending on initial levels of externalizing problems.

Low-income parents' perceptions of the importance of a musical training programme for their children: a qualitative study

Background

Despite clear evidence for the effectiveness of musical training in promoting psychological well-being among underprivileged children, parents’ perceptions of the importance of such training for their children remains unknown.

Methods

Of the parents of 171 underprivileged preschool children in Hong Kong who had participated in a free musical training programme, 25 were randomly selected and invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological data analysis strategy was followed for analysing the data.

Results

The results showed that parents identified numerous benefits of the programme for their child, including increased happiness, improved confidence, positive behavioural changes, and enhanced parent-child relationships. At the beginning of the programme, parents tended to disregard the usefulness of musical training but gradually came to recognise its importance for their children’s psychological and social well-being. However, children were limited by their parents’ financial constraints from participating in musical training after the free programme ended.

Conclusions

These findings imply that existing policy may overlook the psychosocial needs of underprivileged children and suggest that more resources should be allocated to facilitate the continuity and sustainability of such a free programme for this vulnerable population.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02762786, registered on May 5, 2016.

Leisure activities and alcohol consumption among adolescents from Peru and El Salvador

INTRODUCTION

Structured and unstructured leisure are known protective and risk factors, respectively, for alcohol consumption during adolescence. However, little is known about the interaction between the two leisure types and alcohol consumption.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was performed among high-school students in El Salvador and Peru. Schooled adolescents, aged 13-18 (N = 5640), completed a self-administered questionnaire about risk behaviors, including their leisure activities and whether they had consumed alcoholic beverages. They were classified into tertiles of the amount of time of both structured and unstructured activities. A non-conditional multivariate logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the association of both types of leisure with alcohol consumption. We also used a likelihood ratio test to assess the potential interaction of structured and unstructured leisure time in alcohol consumption.

RESULTS

Alcohol consumption was much more frequent among adolescents in the highest tertile of unstructured leisure time compared to the lowest one (Adjusted OR: 5.52; 95% CI: 4.49-6.78), and less frequent among those from the highest tertile of structured leisure time compared to the lowest one (Adjusted OR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.55-0.80). We did not find an interaction effect between structured and unstructured leisure time with regard to initiation of alcohol consumption.

DISCUSSION

The study suggests that structured leisure is not enough to compensate for the possible harmful effect of unstructured leisure. Parents, educators and policy makers might be advised to discourage unstructured leisure among adolescents, and not simply to encourage structured leisure.

Links between deprivation and risk of violence-related injury: a qualitative study to identify potential causal mechanisms

Background

Deprivation has been shown to have a greater effect on risk of violent injury among adolescent girls than boys, but the mechanisms underlying this association have not been identified.

Methods

In this qualitative study designed to identify causal mechanisms, focus groups involving girls aged 14-16 years attending secondary schools in South Wales, UK, were convened. Schools were recruited based on a measure of area-level deprivation. Discussions were audio-recorded and transcripts analysed thematically.

Results

Girls from more deprived areas tended not to participate in organized activities, obtained alcohol from multiple sources, consumed alcoholic drinks of varying strengths in both supervised and unsupervised settings, and tended not to feel trusted by their parents; this led to poor adolescent-parent communication. Girls from less deprived areas tended to participate in organized activities, obtain alcohol from parents, consume low strength alcohol in supervised settings, and have a trusting and communicative relationship with their parents.

Conclusion

Deprivation may increase risk of adolescent girls sustaining violence-related injury by increasing their time spent in unsupervised environments, with alcohol and without parental knowledge.