TY - JOUR
T1 - After-School Extracurricular Activities Participation and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Early Adolescents
T2 - Moderating Effect of Gender and Family Economic Status
AU - Pan, Yangu
AU - Zhou, Di
AU - Shek, Daniel T.L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [21BSH083]. DS’s involvement in this paper is financially supported by Wofoo Foundation (PolyU Project No. 8.54.CC.845D).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/4/1
Y1 - 2022/4/1
N2 - Although Western studies showed that participation in extracurricular activities was intimately linked to adolescents’ psychological adjustment, very few studies have addressed this issue among early adolescents in China. Based on a nationally representative sample of 9672 Chinese junior high school students (Mage = 14.54 years, SD = 0.70 years), this study investigated the relationship between participation in different extracurricular activities and depressive symptoms among Chinese early adolescents, and the moderating role of gender and family economic status. Results indicated that time spent completing homework, attending extracurricular tutoring, and playing online games after school was positively related to students’ depressive symptoms, whereas time spent on participating in physical exercise was negatively associated with students’ depressive symptoms. Besides, the relationships between after-school activities participation and student depressive symptoms were moderated by gender and family economic status. The theoretical and practical implications for the arrangement of after-school activities for Chinese early adolescents are discussed.
AB - Although Western studies showed that participation in extracurricular activities was intimately linked to adolescents’ psychological adjustment, very few studies have addressed this issue among early adolescents in China. Based on a nationally representative sample of 9672 Chinese junior high school students (Mage = 14.54 years, SD = 0.70 years), this study investigated the relationship between participation in different extracurricular activities and depressive symptoms among Chinese early adolescents, and the moderating role of gender and family economic status. Results indicated that time spent completing homework, attending extracurricular tutoring, and playing online games after school was positively related to students’ depressive symptoms, whereas time spent on participating in physical exercise was negatively associated with students’ depressive symptoms. Besides, the relationships between after-school activities participation and student depressive symptoms were moderated by gender and family economic status. The theoretical and practical implications for the arrangement of after-school activities for Chinese early adolescents are discussed.
KW - depressive symptoms
KW - extracurricular activity
KW - family economic status
KW - gender
KW - mainland China
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127377028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19074231
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19074231
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35409917
AN - SCOPUS:85127377028
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 7
M1 - 4231
ER -
