Extracurricular activity participation, school belonging, and depressed mood: a test of the compensation hypothesis during adolescence

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha, and Bivariate Correlations between extracurricular activity participation, socioeconomic status, school belonging, and peer connectedness.

	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.	11.	12.
1. School Belonging (T1)	–
2. School Belonging (T2)	.52**	–
3. School Belonging (T3)	.44**	.57**	–
4. Depressed Mood (T1)	−.43**	−.34**	−.25**	–
5. Depressed Mood (T2)	−.25**	−.47**	−.30**	.31**	–
6. Depressed Mood (T3)	−.17**	−.26**	−.35**	.22**	.30**	–
7. Extracurricular Activity Breadth	.19**	.10**	.12**	−.04*	−.03	.02	–
8. Community Socioeconomic Status	.09**	.09**	.11**	−.07**	−.06**	−.05*	.14**	–
9. Family Financial Hardship	−.14**	−.16**	−.10**	.11**	.11**	.11**	−.14**	−.22**	–
10. Remoteness	−.04*	−.03	−.02	.02	.02	−.01	−.04*	−.29**	.03	–
11. Sex^a	.06**	−.06**	−.03	.04*	.04*	.15**	.10**	−.01	−.01	−.01	–
12. Age	−.03*	.01	−.02	.01	.01	.01	−.03	−.02	.02	.03	.01	–
Mean (SD)	4.05 (0.64)	4.12 (0.62)	4.03 (0.62)	4.06 (5.32)	5.43 (6.59)	7.52 (7.64)	1.99 (1.44)	1.01 (0.67)	1.95 (1.44)	0.53 (0.80)	–	–
Range	1.42 to 5	1.5 to 5	1.58 to 5	0 to 26	0 to 26	0 to 26	0 to 9	0.66 to 1.15	0 to 6	0 to 4	–	12 to 13
α	.85	.87	.86	.92	.94	.95	–	–	–	–	–	–

^a 1 = Female, 0 = Male.

* p < .05.

** p < .001.

Table 2. Regression coefficients exploring the longitudinal relationship between structural inequities, extracurricular activity breadth, school belonging, and depressed mood.

	T1 → T2				T2 → T3
	School Belonging		Depressed Mood		School Belonging		Depressed Mood
	b [CI95%]	B	b [CI95%]	β	b [CI95%]	β	b [CI95%]	β
School Belonging	0.13 [0.04 to 0.21]	0.13*	−0.87 [−1.63 to −0.11]	−0.07*	0.22 [0.13 to 0.31]	0.22**	−1.28 [−2.19 to −0.36]	−0.09*
Depressed Mood	−0.01 [−0.02 to −0.004]	−0.11*	0.11 [−0.01 to 0.22]	0.08	−0.01 [−0.013 to −0.003]	−0.10*	0.13 [0.05 to 0.20]	0.11*
T1 Extracurricular Activity Breadth	0.27 [0.05 to 0.49]	0.82*	0.80 [−1.97 to 3.73]	0.19	0.07 [−0.18 to 0.33]	0.21	−0.21 [−3.67 to 3.14]	−0.04
T1 Community Socioeconomic Status	0.70 [0.13 to 1.22]	0.10*	−2.75 [−9.69 to 3.78]	−0.03	0.69 [0.05 to 1.33]	0.10*	−1.58 [−9.21 to 5.94]	−0.02
T1 Family Financial Hardship	−0.03 [−0.05 to 0.00]	−0.08*	0.18 [−0.10 to 0.47]	0.04	−0.01 [−0.04 to 0.02]	−0.02	0.29 [−0.06 to 0.64]	0.06
T1 Remoteness	0.002 [−0.05 to 0.05]	0.01	−0.49 [−0.99 to 0.05]	−0.06	−0.02 [−0.07 to 0.03]	−0.03	−0.27 [−0.90 to 0.39]	−0.03
Breadth × Community Socioeconomic Status	−0.25 [−0.46 to −0.03]	−0.77*	−0.83 [−3.61 to 1.78]	−0.21	−0.05 [−0.30 to 0.19]	−0.17	0.22 [−2.95 to 3.48]	0.05
Breadth × Financial Hardship	−0.01 [−0.02 to 0.01]	−0.04	0.02 [−0.11 to 0.16]	0.02	−0.002 [−0.02 to 0.01]	−0.02	0.07 [−0.09 to 0.23]	0.04
Breadth × Remoteness	−0.004 [−0.03 to 0.02]	−0.02	−0.03 [−0.25 to 0.18]	−0.01	0.01 [−0.009 to 0.03]	0.04	0.05 [−0.23 to 0.32]	0.01
Sex	−0.10 [−0.14 to −0.07]	−0.11**	2.22 [1.81 to 2.65]	0.19**	−0.04 [−0.08 to 0.01]	−0.04	1.82 [1.27 to 2.35]	0.13**
Age	0.04 [0.004 to 0.08]	0.04*	0.13 [−0.31 to 0.56]	0.01	−0.01 [−0.04 to 0.03]	−0.01	−0.003 [−0.52 to 0.56]	0.01

Model Fit: χ² (19) = 242.06, p < .001; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .05; CFI = .95; TLI = .80. The significance is noted by the inclusion of the asterisks. Given the table has gone through peer review, I am hesitant to edit it in order to provide an additional statistic.

^a 1 = Participant, 0 = Non-participant.

^b 1 = Female, 0 = Male.

* p < .05.

** p < .001.

Figure 1. The full RI-CLPM depicting the between- and within-person effects of school belonging and depressed mood across adolescence. Solid black lines denote significant pathways (p < .05), dashed lines denote non-significant pathways. Residuals, contemporaneous covariances, and covariates are omitted for parsimony.

Figure 2. The Indirect Effect and 95% Confidence Intervals of Extracurricular Activities (12-13 years of age) on Depressed Mood (16-17 years of age) via School Belonging (14-15 Years of Age) depending upon Community Socioeconomic Status. Confidence intervals that do not contain zero (solid grey line) are statistically significant (p < .05).