Extracurricular participation and young children's outcomes in Hong Kong: Maternal involvement as a moderator

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth

Extracurricular participation and young children's outcomes in Hong Kong: Maternal involvement as a moderator

T

⁎

Chung Yeung Chiu , Eva Yi Hung Lau Department of Early Childhood Education, Centre for Child and Family Science, The Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Extracurricular activities Extracurricular participation children's perceptions Maternal involvement

In Hong Kong's competitive society, most children take part in extracurricular activities (ECAs) before or after school. Early childhood lays the foundation for development of intelligence, personality, social behaviour and learning capacity, and ECAs can, therefore, be expected to enrich a child's learning experience. But there has been relatively little research on the effects of extracurricular participation on young children. This study examines the relations between extracurricular participation and young children's school readiness and psychosocial outcomes in a Chinese cultural context. Sixty-four Hong Kong upper kindergarten class children (aged five years and two months to six years and ten months old), their mothers and class teachers participated in a quantitative study where parent, teacher and child reports were collected. The results showed that children's extracurricular participation was positively associated with better school readiness and social competence and negatively associated with a child's liking of ECAs. The level of extracurricular participation was defined as the number of ECAs a child has been participating in during the month that the study was conducted. This was a pioneering study that found maternal involvement moderated the association between the number of ECAs and a child's school readiness and cognitive competence. In general, children from family with low maternal involvement were more likely to benefit from their participation in a higher number of ECAs. The results from this study will inform educators, parents and policymakers and are intended to inspire further research exploring ECAs and early childhood.

1. Introduction Most Hong Kong children aged three to six regularly attend kindergarten and also take part in extracurricular activities (ECAs). ECAs are regular and structured activities that are not part of the school curriculum to help children develop particular skills (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Lau & Cheng, 2016). Extracurricular participation is popular and exposes children all over the world to an environment and social network other than school and home. Convergent evidence shows a positive association between extracurricular participation and indicators of children's cognitive and social development, including academic success (Blomfield & Barber, 2010; Im, Hughes, Cao, & Kwok, 2016; Shulruf, 2010) and psychological well-being (Fredricks & Eccles, 2010; Molinuevo, Bonillo, Pardo, Doval, & Torrubia, 2010). Yet, despite strong empirical grounds, important research gaps in the literature remain. First, the majority of studies used samples of school-aged children or adolescents. In particular, a study by Côté (1999) on children's development of talent in sport suggested that younger children, for example primary school aged children, tend to ⁎

participate in a wider range of sports activities as they focus on having fun and trying new things. This study demonstrated the preferences and pattern of which children participate in activities, however, it did not address children aged younger than six years old. The small number of studies on preschool-aged children and extracurricular participation have focused on studying the impact of ECAs on academic outcomes, such as reading and mathematics skills (Dumais, 2006; National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Early Child Care Research [NICHD], 2004). Few studies have focused on the relations between extracurricular participation and children's psychosocial outcomes. Second, although the contribution of ECAs and maternal involvement has been examined separately, no attempt has been made to explore their interaction effect on young children's outcomes. In other research, it has been suggested the effect of extracurricular participation was moderated by other family factors. During early childhood, parental involvement is viewed as an important social resource that helps children cope with different challenges in their learning and development (Hill & Taylor, 2004). Third, culturally responsive research conducted to understand the features of extracurricular participation in

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C.Y. Chiu), [email protected] (E.Y.H. Lau).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.051 Received 10 November 2017; Received in revised form 29 March 2018; Accepted 29 March 2018 Available online 30 March 2018 0190-7409/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

different societies is important for enhancing learning opportunities for children from diverse cultural backgrounds. Relatively little is known about extracurricular participation in non-Western cultures. Therefore, more studies are needed to examine the impact of extracurricular participation on young children's development beyond the academic skills, especially in a cultural context where extracurricular participation is very common. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature by investigating the relations between extracurricular participation and child school readiness and psychosocial outcomes as well as how maternal involvement may moderate the relations, using a sample of Hong Kong upper kindergarten children.

associated with better mathematics skills at age seven. Moreover, in the longitudinal study by Dumais (2006), the number of ECAs kindergarten children took part in was found to have a positive effect on their reading and on teachers' evaluation of their mathematics skills when they are in elementary school. However, there is a lack of research examining the influence of extracurricular participation on young children's psychosocial outcomes. The present study is the first to consider the relations between extracurricular participation and a range of child outcomes such as school readiness, psychosocial outcomes and children's liking of ECAs.

1.1. ECAs and child academic and psychosocial outcomes

Parental involvement is defined as parenting behaviours that mobilise the resources of parents to maximise the benefits for their children (Hill & Taylor, 2004). During early childhood years, young children primarily learn basic adaptive skills from their parents and thus, children of parents who are highly involved show better development in various aspects. For instance, previous studies agree parental involvement has a significant influence on young children's cognitive and psychosocial development and is negatively associated with problem behaviours (Barbot, Crossman, Hunter, Grigorenko, & Luthar, 2014; Barnard, 2004; Phillipson & Phillipson, 2007; Powell, Son, File, & SanJuan, 2010). While the individual positive effects of ECAs and parental involvement on children's development have been documented, we know less about their interaction effect on young children's outcomes. In the only study examining the moderated pathways to young children's well-being from interactions between parental involvement and extracurricular participation, Lagacé-Séguin and Case (2010) revealed there was a significant interaction between parental involvement and extracurricular participation in predicting children's overall well-being. Their study found that for students who participated in a high number of ECAs, there was detrimental impact from parental pressure, which is defined as parental control of the child's activity participation that imposes performance standards on their well-being. The authors attributed such negative correlation to children's wish to please the parents on one hand, and the stress of their performance in ECAs on the other, leading to a decrease in children's well-being. On the other hand, for students who participated in low numbers of ECAs, the study found a significant positive correlation between parent support, which refers to parental facilitation of the children's activity participation, and students' well-being and academic competence. It was explained that students who participated in fewer ECAs would turn to their parents for encouragement, which helped to enhance their sense of well-being. While the study highlighted the moderating effect of parental involvement in ECAs on the influence of extracurricular participation on children's outcomes, they focused on extracurricular participation as a moderator and failed to capture the moderating effect of parental involvement in cultural contexts where the involvement of parents is highly encouraged (Kim, Wang, Orozco-Lapray, Shen, & Murtuza, 2013). In this study, maternal involvement is defined as the home learning activities that mothers carry out with children. The present study examines the effect of home-based maternal involvement in moderating the relations between extracurricular participation and child outcomes using a Hong Kong sample.

1.2. Maternal involvement as a moderator

Studies have found that among elementary school-aged children in Western societies, greater participation in ECAs is associated with higher academic motivation, academic grades and academic competence as well as better emotional and behavioural adjustment (Fletcher, Nickersan, & Wright, 2003; Im et al., 2016; Molinuevo et al., 2010; Schumacher Dimech & Seiler, 2011). In studies with adolescents, extracurricular participation is positively associated with academic performance in English, mathematics and cumulative grade point average, higher academic track enrolment, university aspirations, school belonging and civic engagement, and negatively associated with skipping school and drug and alcohol use (Blomfield & Barber, 2010; Bright, 2015; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006, 2010; Mahoney, Cairns, & Farmer, 2003). In explaining the benefits associated with extracurricular participation, Fredricks (2012) suggested that extracurricular participation leads to improvement in task persistence, independence and compliance, which facilitates children's academic success. On the other hand, Blomfield and Barber (2010) found that the positive association of extracurricular participation and academic success was mediated by peer attributes. Specifically, these researchers found that adolescents who participated in ECAs reported having more friends who encouraged them to do their best in school than those who did not participate, which in turn influenced their higher attainment of academic achievement. It is possible that ECAs provide a social platform with opportunities for contact with supportive adults and peers, increase a sense of belonging and commitment to school, develop interpersonal competence and set goals (Metsäpelto & Pulkkinen, 2014). Fredricks and Eccles (2010) also stated that extracurricular participation increased adolescents' affiliation with a non-deviant peer group, provided opportunities to gain support and mentoring by tutors to help avoid risky behaviours and lowered the desire to drink alcohol or use drugs. Consistently, Mahoney, Lord, and Carryl (2005)'s longitudinal study on Grade 1 to 3 students found that afterschool programme, which provided new social opportunities for the participants, is associated with significant increases in peer acceptance over time. In sum, the above studies highlighted the importance of the social environment in helping to improve socioemotional well-being and learning outcomes in children by providing a wide variety of experiences and quality interaction among the children as well as between adults and children. The abovementioned studies on benefits associated with extracurricular participation targeted mainly school-aged children and early adolescents. The applicability of these findings on preschool children is unknown as there is insufficient research on the impact of extracurricular participation on young children. Early childhood lays the groundwork for the development of intelligence, personality, social behaviour and learning capacity and hence, participation in ECAs can enrich a child's early learning experience and promote all-round development (Powell, Peet, & Peet, 2002). The few studies that have investigated preschoolers' extracurricular participation have found ECAs to have a positive influence. For example, in a study by NICHD (2004), it was shown that extracurricular involvement in kindergarten and first grade was

1.3. The Hong Kong context Hong Kong is a competitive city. Virtually all children start kindergarten at the age of three (Rao & Li, 2009). Kindergartens in Hong Kong provide services for children from three to six years old. The Hong Kong Guide to the Pre-primary curriculum (Curriculum Development Council, 2017) emphasised on play based learning and focuses on whole-person education. It also states that quality Pre-primary education should provide a firm foundation for children's learning in primary and secondary education. This type of preschool education is regular on 477

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

among them, one teacher was aged over 51, three were 21 to 30 years old, and two were 31 to 40 years old. Their average years of kindergarten teaching experience was 12 years (SD = 9.07). The teachers distributed introductory letters about the study to the children's mothers, who were asked to return an attached consent form if they and their children were willing to participate. The mothers were invited to participate in the current study because of their knowledge about children's daily activities. The mothers of 64 children agreed to participate. The children participated in the child assessment session. At the same time, their teachers and mothers rated their readiness for school, while mothers also reported on their participation of ECAs in the current month. The children (28 girls, 36 boys) were on average 5 years and 7.72 months old (SD = 4.15). The majority of the mothers were aged between 31 and 40 years old (67.2%). Most mothers reported being married (90.6%). One third of the sample had completed high school (34.4%). Almost half of the mothers worked fulltime (48.4%) and among the working mothers, their work hours ranged from 8 to 60 h per week. The median monthly household income range was HK $50,001 to HK$60,000 (25%), 1 US Dollar = 7.78 Hong Kong Dollars. The median education level of the population was secondary education and the median Hong Kong's household income was HK$24,890 in 2016 (Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, 2016). Therefore, the sample in the current study were educated and had a high socioeconomic status. The demographic information for participants are included in Table 1.

a daily basis. Most Hong Kong kindergartens operate on a half-day basis and hence, parents have the flexibility to arrange ECAs for young children before or after school hours to better utilise their time. The recent launch of the Free Quality Kindergarten Education policy (Committee on Free Kindergarten Education, 2015) implies additional financial resources available in each family. Thus, studying the influence of ECAs in Hong Kong is timely and important for providing insights about whether parents should use their resources for ECAs to facilitate quality education during their child's early years. In Hong Kong, parents of school-aged children were found to have a positive attitude towards children's extracurricular participation (Lam & Wong, 1997). In a recent study, Lau and Cheng (2016) revealed that most kindergarten-aged children were regularly involved in ECAs because of parental beliefs that these activities could cultivate children's positive character building and life values that may not be covered in the kindergarten curriculum. It is postulated that the recent trend of increased extracurricular participation among young Hong Kong children may be related to the Chinese cultural value of academic achievement. Specifically, Chinese parents are known to place a high value on education and academic achievement and to be highly responsive to their children's needs and as a result, to be involved more frequently in their children's learning from the early years (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2011; Chiu & Ho, 2006). Parents of kindergarten children may enrol children in different ECAs to enrich the content of their child's portfolio in the hope that it will help them gain admission to prestigious primary schools. Parents of kindergarten children may also be highly involved to help promote their children's school readiness (Lau, Li, & Rao, 2011). Additionally, Chinese parents were often associated with “tiger” parenting. This over-involved parenting style is associated with negative adolescence's outcome, such as lower academic attainment, academic pressure as well as depressive symptoms (Kim et al., 2013). With such parental beliefs and behaviours in mind, it is interesting to examine whether extracurricular participation has a similar influence on young children in Asian societies and whether parental involvement moderates such an association. Hence, more research is needed to examine whether parental involvement may boost the positive effect of extracurricular participation on young children's outcomes and buffer against the negative effect of a lack of extracurricular participation on young children's cognitive and psychosocial outcomes.

2.2. Procedures All participating mothers completed a questionnaire on the family demographic characteristics and their child's current extracurricular participation. In the questionnaire, they were asked to provide the name, duration of each session, and the frequency of participation of each ECA their children were, currently and regularly, involved in the recent month time. Mothers also completed a questionnaire to rate their child's readiness for school, social competence, and maternal involvement in the home setting. All child participants participated in an individual interview conducted in a classroom in their kindergarten during school hours to assess their self-perceived social competence and Table 1 Demographic information for participants.

1.4. The present study

Mother's age 20 years old or below 21–30 years old 31–40 years old 41–50 years old 51 years old or above Marital status Married Divorced Remarried Maternal education level Primary school or below Secondary school Post-secondary education Bachelor's Master's or above Other Maternal employment status Full-time employment Part-time employment Unemployed Monthly household income Less than HK$ 20,000 HK$20,001-HK$40,000 HK$50,001-HK$60,000 HK$60,001 or above

We used a multi-informant design to explore the relations between Hong Kong kindergarten-aged children's extracurricular participation and their outcomes and to examine the moderating role of maternal involvement, using a Hong Kong sample. First, we hypothesised that children's participation in ECAs would be associated with an increase in children's outcomes, because of the additional learning opportunities, but a decrease in children's overall liking of ECAs due to fatigue. Second, we speculated that in the Chinese cultural context, in which educational achievement is highly valued, mothers' high levels of involvement would foster their children's mastery of skills. Therefore, we hypothesised that children who participated in more ECAs and had mothers with a higher level of maternal involvement would show better child school readiness and/or psychosocial outcomes. 2. Methodology 2.1. Participants and procedures Invitations to participate in the study were sent to 112 upper kindergarten class students (typically aged five to six years old), their mothers and class teachers at three kindergartens in Hong Kong, each from one of the three districts, namely Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories. All of the 6 kindergarten teachers were female and

Note. HK$: Hong Kong Dollars; 1 US Dollar = 7.78 Hong Kong Dollars. N = 64. 478

0 (0%) 5 (7.8%) 43 (67.2%) 16 (25%) 0 (0%) 58 (90.6%) 4 (6.3%) 2 (3.1%) 2 (3.1%) 22 (34.4%) 7 (10.9%) 16 (25%) 9 (14.1) 1 (1.6%) 31 (48.4%) 8 (12.5%) 25 (39.1%) 18 (28.1%) 7 (10.9%) 16 (25%) 23 (36.9%)

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

Each version contains of four subscales of six items: cognitive competence (e.g. “This girl/boy is good at numbers”), physical competence (e.g. “This girl/boy is good at swimming”), peer acceptance (e.g. “This girl/boy has lots of friends to play with”), and maternal acceptance (e.g. “Mom reads to you”). The cognitive competence and peer acceptance subscales in the version for preschoolers and kindergarteners were used as a measure of the children's self-perceived adjustment outcome in this study. Each item was represented by two pictorial alternatives, one depicting a child with high competence/adequacy and one with less competence/adequacy. Children first identified which child among the pictures was most like him/her. Then they were asked to pick from the choices (a big and a small circle) under the picture to indicate how true the picture was to him/her. Each of the four circles were coded in the form of a score from 1 to 4 and recorded onto the score sheet for analysis. The Cronbach's alphas of the cognitive competence subscale and the peer acceptance subscale were 0.59 and 0.58 respectively.

Table 2 Questionnaires completed by participating mothers, teacher, and children.

Chinese Readiness for School Scale Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children Children's liking of ECA Family Involvement Questionnaire

Mothers

Teachers

✓ ✓

✓ ✓

Children

✓ ✓ ✓

cognitive ability. They were also asked to indicate their liking of each ECA reported by their mothers. Throughout the interview, children were free to withdraw if they did not want to participate and by the end of the interview, students were given a sticker as a token of appreciation. All teacher participants completed questionnaires to rate the readiness for school and the social behaviours of each of the child participants in their class. Table 2 shows the questionnaires completed by the participating mothers, children, and teachers in this study. All data collected was input into SPSS statistics software by the first author, data re-entry was done by a research assistant for cross-check purpose and statistical analysis was conducted after eliminating all data entry error.

2.3.4. Children's liking of ECA Using the information provided by the mothers, children were asked to rate each enrolled ECA using a 4-point pictorial Likert scale of two smiley faces and two sad faces. The 4-point pictorial Likert scale represents: ‘very sad’, ‘a little bit sad’, ‘a little bit happy’, and ‘very happy’. The children were asked to indicate their emotions, i.e. sadness or happiness, associated with the ECA regarding three time points: ‘before’, ‘during’, and ‘after’ the ECA. For each time point of each ECA, they were asked about their general feeling first (e.g. ‘happy’ or ‘sad’). Then, they were asked to indicate the intensity (e.g. ‘very’ or ‘a little bit’) of the emotion by pointing at one smiley/sad face. The responses were then coded in the form of score from 1 to 4, in which 1 being ‘very sad’ and 4 being ‘very happy’. The average of the liking of each of the child's ECAs was calculated by summing the total scores divided by the number of ECAs they participated in. The average was used as an indicator of children's overall liking of ECAs in the subsequent analyses.

2.3. Measures 2.3.1. Chinese readiness for school scale (CRSS) The CRSS (Lau, Li, & Rao, 2012) measures readiness for school with 6 subscales: general preparedness for school (8 items, e.g. “Is able to follow the instructions”), language and cognitive development (7 items, e.g. “Is able to fully describe an event”), social development (6 items, e.g. “Likes making friends”), emotional and behavioural development (5 items, e.g. “Is emotionally stable”), self-management (3 items, e.g. “Is able to tidy up toys by him/herself”), and motor development (6 items, e.g. “Is able to feed him/herself”). Each item was rated on a 5point Likert scale (1 = very incorrect; 5 = very correct). In the current study, the Cronbach's alphas of the mother's reports for the six subscales ranged from 0.62 (self-management subscale) to 0.81 (general preparedness subscale) and the Cronbach's alphas of the teacher's reports for the six subscales ranged from 0.63 (social development subscale) to 0.87 (language and cognitive development subscale). In the present study, the total scores of CRSS reported by teachers and mothers were used as indicators of the children's overall school readiness. The Cronbach's alphas of the mother-report overall school readiness was 0.93 and the teacher-report overall school readiness was 0.92.

2.3.5. Family involvement questionnaire (FIQ) The FIQ is a multidimensional scale of parental involvement of preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000). The scale consists of three involvement constructs: school-based involvement (e.g. “I volunteer in my child's classroom”), home-school conferencing (e.g. “I talk to the teacher about how my child gets along with his/her classmates at school”), and home-based involvement (e.g. “I spend time working with my child on number skills”). Each item was rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = rarely, 2 = sometimes, 3 = often, 4 = always). In this study, mothers were asked to complete the home-based involvement subscale. The Cronbach's alpha of the home-based involvement subscale was 0.78 in this study.

2.3.2. Social competence and behavior evaluation scale (SCBE-30) The SCBE-30 is the shortened version of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale (SCBE; LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996) for evaluating children's social competence and behaviour. The SCBE-30 includes 30 items and three subscales: anxiety-withdrawal (e.g. “Inhibited or uneasy in the group”), anger-aggression (e.g. “Easily frustrated”), and social competence (e.g. “Takes pleasure in own accomplishment”) (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996). Mothers and teachers rated each item on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = never; 6 = always). In the present study, the Cronbach's alphas of mother and teacher reports were 0.78 and 0.80 (anxiety-withdrawal subscale), 0.62 and 0.75 (anger-aggression subscale), and 0.84 and 0.74 (social competence subscale), respectively.

3. Results 3.1. Descriptive analysis In particular, 57 out of the 64 participating children (89%) participated in at least one ECA. The reported actual number of ECAs ranged from 0 to 8 (M = 3.03, SD = 2.19). The monthly expenditure on ECAs ranged from HK$240 to HK$10,000 (M = HK$2639.31, SD = HK $2119.57, median = HK$1940). The ECAs reported by mothers were categorised into ten types based on the nature of the ECA, namely Art, Dance, Music, Sports, Chinese, English, Mathematics, Putonghua, uniformed groups (e.g. Road Safety Patrol), and Others (e.g. cross-subject activities, such as E.nopi). Fig. 1 shows the percentage of children attending each type of ECA, with English classes being most popular (61%), followed by sports (46%) and art (42%).

2.3.3. Pictorial scale of perceived competence and social acceptance for young children The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984) has two versions, one for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and one for first and second graders. 479

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

Fig. 1. Percentage of children in each type of ECA. Note: N = 57.

interaction effect of number of ECA and maternal involvement on the child outcomes, with maternal education level entered as a control variable. Specifically, the outcome variables included parent report and teacher report of child's overall school readiness, anxiety-withdrawal behaviours, anger-aggression behaviours, social competence, as well as child report of liking of ECAs, cognitive competence and peer acceptance. As shown in Table 5, the moderation effect of maternal involvement was only significant on the link between the number of ECA and parent-report overall school readiness, ΔR2 = 0.12, F(1, 59) = 14.13, p = .00, b = −0.17, t(59) = −-3.76, p < .001, and child-report cognitive competence, ΔR2 = 0.067, F(1, 59) = 4.60, p = .036, b = −0.15, t(59) = −2.15, p < .05. To probe the significant moderation effects, we estimated the simple slopes for children who had high, average, and low levels of maternal involvement. In Fig. 2, the simple slopes of the number of ECA on parent report of overall school readiness were significant for children whose mothers had a low and average level of involvement, B = 5.04, SE = 0.03, p < .001 and B = 3.33, SE = 0.02, p < .01, but not for those whose mothers had a high level of involvement, B = −0.17, SE = 0.03. Thus, the variation in children's school readiness as reported by mothers was associated with the number of ECA they participated in only for children who had mothers with low or average levels of involvement. In Fig. 3, while the moderation effect of ECA number and maternal involvement was significant, none of the simple slopes of the number of ECA on child-report of cognitive competence was significant, except for the group of children whose mothers had a low level of involvement was approaching significance, B = 1.86, SE = 0.04, p = .069.

3.2. Influence of extracurricular participation on child outcome Table 3 presents the correlations between demographic variables, extracurricular participation, maternal involvement, and child outcome variables. As shown, among the variables that were significantly correlated, the size of the effect for correlation coefficients were small to medium. Specifically, the number of ECAs was significantly correlated with parent report of child's overall school readiness (r = 0.33, p < .01) and teacher report of child's overall school readiness (r = 0.40, p < .01). Regarding children's social and behavioural outcomes, the number of ECAs was significantly correlated with parent report of child's social competence (r = 0.28, p < .05) and teacher report of child's anxiety-withdrawal behaviours (r = −0.26, p < .05). A series of hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the ability of child's number of ECAs to predict child outcomes, namely parent and teacher reports of overall school readiness, anxiety withdrawal, anger-aggression and social competence as well as child report of cognitive competence and peer acceptance. As shown in Table 3, maternal education level was significantly correlated with parent report of overall school readiness (r = 0.31, p < .05), parent report of social competence (r = 0.31, p < .05), and teacher report of overall school readiness (r = 0.26, p < .05), while family income was significantly correlated with parent report of overall school readiness (r = 0.41, p < .01), parent report of social competence (r = 0.41, p < .01), and teacher report of overall school readiness (r = 0.29, p < .05). Therefore, the variables of maternal education and family income were considered to be controlled in further analyses. However, since maternal education and family income were significantly correlated with each other, in order to ensure the power of this sample, only maternal education was entered in Step 1 as a control variable in subsequent hierarchical multiple regression analyses. As shown in Table 4, the number of ECAs in Step 2 significantly predicted teacher report of overall school readiness (FΔ(1, 60) = 7.36, p < .01), teacher report of anxiety-withdrawal behaviours (FΔ(1, 60) = 6.07, p < .05), as well as child report of liking of ECAs (FΔ(1, 53) = 5.26, p < .05)), which explained 10%, 9%, 9% variance, respectively. The higher number of ECAs predicted better child's overall school readiness, less anxietywithdrawal behaviour, and lower liking of ECAs.

4. Discussion This study has investigated the associations of extracurricular participation on preschool children's outcomes and the moderating effect of maternal involvement on such relations. Consistent with the findings of a previous study (Lau & Cheng, 2016), this study found it is common for Hong Kong kindergarten-aged children to be enrolled in ECAs. Because the aim of kindergarten education in Hong Kong is to nurture children to attain all-round development, Hong Kong parents may engage children in ECAs from an early age, aiming to lay the foundation for their future learning. Among ECAs, English classes were found to be the most popular. As Hong Kong kindergartens and primary schools differ in terms of their curricula, pedagogies and teacher expectations, the transition from kindergarten to primary school represents a major milestone for children during which they must cope with various adaptation problems (Wong, 2003). While Chinese is the primary language and English is not compulsory in Hong Kong kindergartens,

3.3. Moderating effects of maternal involvement A series of hierarchical multiple regression was used to test whether mother involvement moderates the association of the number of ECAs and child outcomes. PROCESS Macro (Hayes, 2017; Version 3.0) was used to test the 480

481

Note. N = 64. ⁎ p < .05. ⁎⁎ p < .01.

1. Child's gender 2. Maternal education level 3. Maternal employment status 4. Parent's marital status 5. Paternal education level 6. Paternal employment status 7. Family income 8. Number of ECA Parent-report 9. School Readiness total 10. Anxiety-withdrawal 11. Anger-aggression 12. Social Competence Teacher-report 13. School Readiness total 14. Anxiety-withdrawal 15. Anger-aggression 16. Social Competence Child-report 17. Child liking of ECA 18. Cognitive competence 19. Peer Acceptance

0.26 0.01 0.01 0.08

0.10 0.09 −0.23

0.16 0.04 −0.09 0.15

0.06 0.03 0.12

−0.37 0.13 0.07 −0.18 0.22 −0.09 0.04

−0.04 0.11 0.19

⁎⁎

−0.12 0.00 0.14 −0.24

– −0.33⁎⁎ 0.32⁎⁎ −0.23 −0.18

4

−0.13 0.09 0.07 0.04

−0.32⁎ −0.04 0.05 −0.23

0.31⁎ 0.12 −0.13 0.31⁎

0.10 0.02 −0.07 0.14

⁎

– 0.19 −0.16 −0.06 −0.40⁎⁎ −0.40⁎⁎

3

– −0.34⁎⁎ −0.23 0.66⁎⁎ −0.38⁎⁎ 0.66⁎⁎ 0.42⁎⁎

2

1 – −0.13 0.12 −0.19 −0.04 −0.08 0.07 0.12

Table 3 Correlations between demographic and major variables.

−0.03 0.14 −0.05

0.28 −0.05 −0.03 0.01

⁎

0.17 −0.02 −0.13 0.27⁎

– −0.35⁎⁎ 0.66⁎⁎ 0.38⁎⁎

5

0.08 −0.30⁎ −0.13

−0.21 0.09 0.02 −0.14

−0.03 0.00 −0.08 −0.28⁎

– −0.42⁎⁎ −0.14

6

−0.16 0.14 0.04

0.29 −0.13 −0.14 0.04

⁎

0.41⁎⁎ 0.11 −0.06 0.41⁎⁎

– 0.59⁎⁎

7

−0.26 0.06 0.05

0.40 −0.26⁎ −0.05 0.10

⁎⁎

0.33⁎⁎ −0.08 −0.03 0.28⁎

–

8

−0.10 0.09 0.27⁎

0.28 −0.25⁎ −0.10 0.15

⁎

– −0.24 −0.21 0.68⁎⁎

9

0.08 0.05 −0.31⁎

−0.17 0.38⁎⁎ 0.08 −0.24

– 0.37⁎⁎ −0.26⁎

10

Parent-report

−0.05 0.17 0.04

−0.14 0.00 0.32⁎⁎ −0.08

– −0.19

11

−0.04 0.15 0.39⁎⁎

0.30⁎ −0.25⁎ −0.19 0.22

–

12

−0.09 0.10 −0.05

– −0.51⁎⁎ −0.22 0.74⁎⁎

13

0.05 −0.10 −0.30⁎

– 0.31⁎ −0.40⁎⁎

14

Teacher-report

−0.04 0.01 0.09

– −0.15

15

0.17 0.03 −0.01

–

16

– 0.08 −0.14

17

– 0.29⁎

18

Child-report

–

19

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

Findings supported the hypothesis that children's participation in ECAs would be associated with an increase in children's school readiness as well as cognitive and social skills. Whereas previous studies on school-aged children have suggested the positive impact of extracurricular participation on academic success and psychosocial wellbeing (Blomfield & Barber, 2010; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Im et al., 2016; Simoncini & Caltabiono, 2012), findings of this study contribute to the literature by providing further evidence that extracurricular participation also benefits young children's development. Côté (1999) suggested that younger children tend to focus on having fun and trying new things when participating in ECAs. It is likely that with higher number of ECAs, young children benefit from exposure to stimulating learning experiences and quality interactions with tutors and peers, leading to positive cognitive and social outcomes and readiness for school (Eccles & Gootman, 2002; Mahoney et al., 2003). Because of the potential benefits of participation, the government and kindergartens should encourage and support robust involvement in ECAs during the early childhood years. The results also support the hypothesis that there was is a decline in children's overall liking of ECAs as the number of ECAs increased. Previous research has identified a non-linear relation between the breadth of extracurricular participation and adolescents' outcomes, in which youth outcomes were initially positive for low to moderate involvement in ECAs, and then became negative at higher levels of participation (Fredricks, 2012; Fredricks & Eccles, 2010). Those findings suggested a possible negative effect of over-scheduling of ECAs on children's outcomes. In another study, Brown, Nobiling, Teufel, and Birch (2011) has argued that greater participation in ECAs increases children's activity-related stress. As young children are still developing their ability to accommodate the multiple task demands during the early childhood (Powell et al., 2002), a high level of involvement in ECAs at this stage of development may lead to child fatigue, hence lowering the child's overall liking of the activities by the participating children. Additionally, it is possible that a higher number of activities could increase the chance of the child encountering an ECA that he/she disliked, and hence lowering the child's overall liking of ECAs. In many highly competitive Western countries, there have been extensive discussions on how children spend their time (Craig & Mullan, 2012; Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001; Larson & Verma, 1999) and how their schedule could affect their development (Bulten, Cairney, KingDowling, & Arbour-Nicitopoulos, 2017; Mahoney, Harris, & Eccles, 2006). Similarly, Hong Kong, also as a competitive city, it is important that, although a higher number of ECAs is associated with better child outcomes, children's liking of ECAs should also be taken into account by parents, when arranging ECAs for their children to avoid the possibility of lowering the positive impact of ECAs on their child's learning and developmental outcomes. Furthermore, the results also found support for the hypothesis that maternal involvement would moderates the association between extracurricular participation and child outcomes. Contrary to our expectations, the results suggest that for children whose mothers have a low or average level of home-based involvement, a high number of ECAs is positively associated with mother report of school readiness. In other words, children of mothers with less involvement in the child's home life may rely more on ECAs to provide learning stimulation. It is possible that children of mothers with high levels of involvement have all along been benefiting from the stimulations and support of their mothers, leading to a better overall readiness for school and social competence (Lau et al., 2011; Phillipson & Phillipson, 2007). Hence, the additional benefits of extracurricular participation on their outcomes would not be as obvious. In their study examining the interaction between parental involvement and extracurricular participation and its relations with child outcomes, Lagacé-Séguin and Case (2010) found that for students who participated in less number of fewer ECAs, parental support was associated with positive outcomes. For instance, when families have limited financial resources for enrolling their

Table 4 Testing the effects of number of ECA on child outcomes.

Parent-report overall school readiness Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Parent-report anxiety-withdrawal Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Parent-report anger-aggression Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Parent-report social competence Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Teacher-report overall school readiness Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Teacher-report anxiety-withdrawal Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Teacher-report anger-aggression Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Teacher-report social competence Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Child-report ECA liking Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Child-report cognitive competence Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA Child-report peer acceptance Step 1: Maternal education Step 2: Number of ECA

β

t

FΔ(df)

ΔR2

0.31 0.24

2.53 1.75

6.42 (1, 61) 3.06 (1, 60)

0.01 0.04

0.12 −0.18

1.00 −1.23

0.93 (1, 61) 1.52 (1, 60)

0.02 0.02

−0.12 0.02

−1.04 0.14

1.08 (1, 61) 0.02 (1, 60)

0.02 0.00

0.31 0.17

2.59 1.23

6.67 (1, 61) 1.52 (1, 60)

0.10 0.02

0.26 0.36

2.12⁎ 2.71⁎⁎

4.48 (1, 61) 7.36 (1, 60)

0.07 0.10

0.01 −0.34

0.04 −2.46⁎

0.00 (1, 61) 6.07 (1, 60)

0.00 0.09

0.01 −0.06

0.05 −0.38

0.00 (1, 61) 0.15 (1, 60)

0.00 0.00

0.08 0.1

0.66 0.67

0.43 (1, 61) 0.44 (1, 60)

0.01 0.01

0.98 −0.32

0.72 −2.29⁎

0.52 (1, 54) 5.26 (1, 53)

0.01 0.09

0.09 0.02

0.68 0.17

0.46 (1, 61) 0.03 (1, 60)

0.01 0.00

−0.23 0.18

−1.86 1.29

3.46 (1, 61) 1.67 (1, 60)

0.05 0.03

Note. N = 63–64. ⁎ p < .05. ⁎⁎ p < .01. Table 5 Testing the interaction effects of the number of ECAs and parental involvement on child outcomes. Effects

Estimate (SE)

[LCI, UCI]

Parent-report Overall school readiness Anxiety withdrawal Anger aggression Social competence

−0.171 −0.079 −0.086 −0.031

(0.046) (0.052) (0.054) (0.043)

[−0.262, [−0.184, [−0.194, [−0.117,

−0.080]⁎⁎⁎ 0.025] 0.022] 0.056]

Teacher-report Overall school readiness Anxiety withdrawal Anger aggression Social competence

−0.009 (0.050) 0.054 (0.056) 0.092 (0.054) 0.053 (0.040)

[−0.110, [−0.059, [−0.017, [−0.028,

0.091] 0.167] 0.200] 0.133]

Child-report ECA liking Cognitive competence Peer acceptance

−0.124 (0.096) −0.154 (0.072) −0.034 (0.082)

[−0.316, 0.068] [−0.298, −0.010]⁎⁎ [−0.198, 0.131]

Note. N = 63–64. ⁎ p < .05. ⁎⁎ p < .01. ⁎⁎⁎ p < .001.

children are expected to master a wide range of academic skills in primary schools, such as biliteracy (Chinese and English) and trilingual (Cantonese, English and Putonghua) abilities (Education Bureau, 2012). As a result, Hong Kong parents, who were found to place a high value on academic success (Chiu & Ho, 2006; Sun & Rao, 2012), may consider English language skill as highly important and hence, arrange for their child to take extracurricular English classes from a young age. 482

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

Fig. 2. interaction effect of number of ECA and maternal involvement on parent-report of overall school readiness. Note: *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

findings. Also, due to the insufficient number of schools, the findings were limited by the failure to run multi-models. All these suggest the need to use a larger and more randomised sample in the future. Second, causal effect could not be established due to the reliance on cross-sectional data. It is not known if children who are more ready for school and have better social competence are more likely to be sent to more ECAs by their mothers. In fact, children are viewed as playing an active role in influencing their mothers' parenting behaviours and are not simply passive recipients of environment stimuli (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). For instance, mothers may respond to their child's academic and behavioural difficulties by engaging their child in more ECAs. Moreover, the number of ECAs reported by mother participants only indicated the children's current extracurricular participation at the time being, which may not be consistent across the year. In future studies, the use of longitudinal data or a comparison group could examine the causal and long-term effects of extracurricular participation on children's outcomes. Third, information on the breadth and intensity of the young children's extracurricular participation were not collected, only the number of ECAs, was focused on without collecting information about the duration, quality, nature and processes of these ECAs and

children in ECAs, more involvement by mothers in their activities may lower the negative effect of the children's low levels of extracurricular participation. Their findings suggest that when ECA opportunities are limited, children may turn to their mothers for encouragement to enhance their sense of overall well-being or to rely on their mothers' engagement in educational activities to support their learning. Our study extends their findings and suggested that maternal involvement moderates the association between ECAs and child outcomes. Specifically, when mothers can provide only a low level of home-based involvement due to long working hours and/or a lack of parenting knowledge, enrolling their child in more ECAs could help promote the child's school readiness. Hence, public resources for providing financial support to families with low levels of maternal involvement to enrol children in ECAs are necessary. 5. Limitations and future directions The current study is not without limitations. First, the use of convenient sampling in recruiting participants, self-selection bias, and the high socioeconomic status of the sample limited the generalisation of

Fig. 3. Interaction effect of number of ECA and parental involvement on child-report of cognitive competence. 483

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

their effects on child outcomes. For example, “English class” could refer to a fun English phonics learning programme, or an intensive English Cambridge examination's preparation programme. While they are both popular ECAs in Hong Kong for young children, they could have different impacts on children because they differ in many aspects, such as pedagogies and learning goals. Indeed, previous research has studied the impact of different types of ECA, for example, sports-related ECAs (Larson, Hansen, & Moneta, 2006; Metsäpelto & Pulkkinen, 2014), and found distinct patterns of influencing processes on children's outcomes (Hansen, Larson, & Dworkin, 2003). In addition, according to Bohnert, Fredricks, and Randall (2010), there are four dimensions of youth organised activity involvement, namely the breadth, intensity, duration or consistency, and engagement, which were not considered in this study. Ideally, although challenging, more information should be collected regarding the content, the mode of delivery of the ECAs, as well as the various dimensions of extracurricular involvement when exploring the effects of ECAs on child psychosocial outcomes. Fourth, when measuring child outcomes, although reports from different informants were included, there is a lack of objective measures and potential self-report biases. For example, both the number of ECAs and the child's outcomes were reported by the mother participants. The mothers could subjectively perceive the child's extracurricular participation to have a positive effect on the child's school readiness and psychosocial outcomes. In the future, the use of objective measures, for example, child assessment, would be preferred. Fifth, the reliability of the childreport cognitive competence and peer-acceptance subscales of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984) were relatively low. According to Harter and Pike (1984), the alphas of the cognitive competence subscale was 0.52, and the authors explained the low reliability of the subscale was due to the skewed item means towards the upper end of the scale. Similarly, the majority of the item scores of the two subscales were either 3 or 4 in the present study. In future studies, measures with a higher reliability should be used when measuring child perceived cognitive competence and peer-acceptance. Sixth, only two out of eleven moderation models, mother-report overall school readiness and child-report cognitive competence model, were significant and the slope for low maternal involvement in the model child-report cognitive competence model was approaching significance only. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted carefully. Lastly, only mothers' involvement was assessed as a moderator, whereas the role a father's involvement plays in moderating the relations between extracurricular participation and child outcomes was not examined. In recent years, fathers' involvement in raising children has been highlighted in both Western and Eastern cultural contexts (Lamb, 2010; Lau, 2016; Pleck, 2012). This limitation calls for further studies of the role that fathers play in children's extracurricular participation.

and government decision-makers considering policy such as allocation of resources to deprived families; and its focus on preschool children's psychosocial outcomes adds to the existing literature and provides a solid foundation for further research into nonlinear relations between extracurricular participation and its impact on preschoolers' outcomes. References Barbot, B., Crossman, E., Hunter, S. R., Grigorenko, E. L., & Luthar, S. S. (2014). Reciprocal influences between maternal parenting and child adjustment in a high-risk population: A 5-year cross-lagged analysis of bidirectional effects. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84(5), 567–580. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ort0000012. Barnard, W. M. (2004). Parent involvement in elementary school and educational attainment. Children and Youth Services Review, 26(1), 39–62. http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.childyouth.2003.11.002. Blomfield, C., & Barber, B. (2010). Australian adolescents' extracurricular activity participation and positive development: Is the relationship mediated by peer attributes? Australian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 10, 114–128. Bohnert, A., Fredricks, J., & Randall, E. (2010). Capturing unique dimensions of youth organized activity involvement. Review of Educational Research, 80(4), 576–610. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0034654310364533. Bright, B. (2015). The relationship between extracurricular participation and academic performance of high school students. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest database. Brown, S. L., Nobiling, B. D., Teufel, J., & Birch, D. A. (2011). Are kids too busy? Early adolescents perceptions of discretionary activities, overscheduling, and stress. Journal of School Health, 81(9), 574–580. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011. 00629.x. Bulten, R., Cairney, J., King-Dowling, S., & Arbour-Nicitopoulos, K. (2017). Organized sport and physical activity participation and free play in children and youth: A test of the over-scheduling hypothesis using longitudinal data. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport, 49(1), 71. Cheung, C. S., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2011). Parents' involvement in children's learning in the United States and china: Implications for children's academic and emotional adjustment. Child Development, 82(3), 932–950. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.14678624.2011.01582.x. Chiu, M. M., & Ho, S. C. (2006). Family effects on student achievement in Hong Kong. Asian Pacific Journal of Education, 26(1), 21–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 02188790600607846. Committee on Free Kindergarten Education (2015). Report of the committee on free kindergarten education. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/ edu-system/preprimary-kindergarten/kgreport/Free-kg-report-201505-Eng.pdf, Accessed date: 8 November 2017. Côté, J. (1999). The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport. The Sport Psychologist, 13(4), 395–417. Craig, L., & Mullan, K. (2012). Shared parent–child leisure time in four countries. Leisure Studies, 31(2), 211–229. Curriculum Development Council (2017). Guide to the pre-primary curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculumdevelopment/major-levelof-edu/preprimary/ENG_KGECG_2017.pdf, Accessed date: 20 March 2018. Dumais, S. A. (2006). Elementary school students' extracurricular Activities: The effects of participation on achievement and teachers' evaluations. Sociological Spectrum, 26(2), 117–147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02732170500444593. Eccles, J. S., & Gootman, J. A. (Eds.). (2002). Community programs to promote youth development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Education Bureau (2012). Programme highlights on primary education. Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/primary/highlights/ index.html, Accessed date: 8 November 2017. Fantuzzo, J., Tighe, E., & Childs, S. (2000). Family involvement questionnaire: A multivariate assessment of family participation in early childhood education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2), 367–376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.92.2. 367. Fletcher, A. C., Nickersan, P., & Wright, K. L. (2003). Structured leisure activities in middle childhood: Links to well-being. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(6), 641. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcop.10075. Fredricks, J. A. (2012). Extracurricular participation and academic outcomes: Testing the over-scheduling hypothesis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(3), 295–306. Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Is extracurricular participation associated with beneficial outcomes? Concurrent and longitudinal relations. Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 698–713. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.698. Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2010). Breadth of extracurricular participation and adolescent adjustment among African-American and European-American youth. Journal of Research on Adolescence (Wiley-Blackwell), 20(2), 307–333. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00627.x. Hansen, D., Larson, R., & Dworkin, J. (2003). What adolescents learn in organized youth activities: A survey of self–reported developmental experiences. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(1), 25–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1532-7795.1301006. Harter, S., & Pike, R. (1984). The pictorial scale of perceived competence and social acceptance for young children. Child Development, 55(6), 1969–1982. Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications. Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental school involvement and children's academic achievement. Pragmatics and issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(4),

6. Conclusion This study provides valuable insights into young children's participation in ECAs and pioneers the moderating effect of their mothers' involvement. It offers a children's perspective in addition to data from mothers and teachers. Despite the limitations mentioned above, it has the merit of using a multi-informant design to explore the impact of extracurricular participation on kindergarten children's school readiness and social competence in a Chinese cultural context. Our findings suggest that young children's participation in ECA associated with better school readiness and social competence, whereas high levels of extracurricular participation associated with lower children's liking of ECAs. Also, maternal involvement was found to moderate the association between number of ECAs and children's school readiness and cognitive competence. This research is important on several levels. It clarifies for parents that while there may be positive academic and social effects from participation in ECAs, children may not be enjoying the experience of participating in too many ECAs; it informs educators 484

Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018) 476–485

C.Y. Chiu, E.Y.H. Lau

development of child obesity and peer acceptance. Applied Developmental Science, 9(4), 202–215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1532480xads0904_3. Metsäpelto, R., & Pulkkinen, L. (2014). The benefits of extracurricular activities for socioemotional behavior and school achievement in middle childhood: An overview of the research. Journal for Educational Research Online, 6(3), 10–33. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/00313831.2011.581681. Molinuevo, B., Bonillo, A., Pardo, Y., Doval, E., & Torrubia, R. (2010). Participation in extracurricular activities and emotional and behavioral adjustment in middle childhood in Spanish boys and girls. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(7), 842–857. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20399. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD) (2004). Are child developmental outcomes related to before- and after-school care arrangements? results from the NICHD study of early child care. (2004). Child Development, 75(1), 280–295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624. 2004.00669.x. Phillipson, S., & Phillipson, S. N. (2007). Academic expectations, belief of ability, and involvement by parents as predictors of child achievement: A cross-cultural comparison. Educational Psychology, 27(3), 329–348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 01443410601104130. Pleck, J. H. (2012). Integrating father involvement in parenting research. Parenting: Science and Practice, 12(2–3), 243–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2012. 683365. Powell, D. R., Peet, S. H., & Peet, C. E. (2002). Low-income childrens academic achievement and participation in out-of-school activities in 1st grade. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 16(2), 202–211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 02568540209594985. Powell, D. R., Son, S., File, N., & San-Juan, R. R. (2010). Parent–school relationships and children's academic and social outcomes in public school pre-kindergarten. Journal of School Psychology, 48(4), 269–292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2010.03.002. Rao, N., & Li, H. (2009). Quality matters: Early childhood education policy in Hong Kong. Early Child Development and Care, 179(3), 233–245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 03004430601078644. Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype → environment effects. Child Development, 54(2), 424–435. http://dx.doi. org/10.2307/1129703. Schumacher Dimech, A., & Seiler, R. (2011). Extra-curricular sport participation: A potential buffer against social anxiety symptoms in primary school children. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12(4), 347–354. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011. 03.007. Shulruf, B. (2010). Do extra-curricular activities in schools improve educational outcomes? A critical review and meta-analysis of the literature. International Review of Education, 56(5–6), 591–612. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11159-010-9180-x. Simoncini, K., & Caltabiono, N. (2012). Young school-aged children's behaviour and their participation in extra-curricular activities. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(3), 35. Sun, J., & Rao, N. (2012). Scaffolding preschool children's problem solving: A comparison between Chinese mothers and teachers across multiple tasks. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 10(3), 246–266. Wong, N. C. (2003). A study of children's difficulties in transition to school in Hong Kong. Early Child Development and Care, 173(1), 83–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 0300443022000022440.

161–164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00298.x. Hofferth, S. L., & Sandberg, J. F. (2001). How American children spend their time. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63(2), 295–308. Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (2016). 2016 Population by-census, thematic report: Household income distribution in Hong Kong. Retrieved from https:// www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/data/16bc-household-income.pdf. Im, M. H., Hughes, J. N., Cao, Q., & Kwok, O. (2016). Effects of extracurricular participation during middle school on academic motivation and achievement at grade 9. American Educational Research Journal, 53(5), 1343–1375. http://dx.doi.org/10. 3102/0002831216667479. Kim, S. Y., Wang, Y., Orozco-Lapray, D., Shen, Y., & Murtuza, M. (2013). Does “tiger parenting” exist? Parenting profiles of Chinese Americans and adolescent developmental outcomes. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 4(1), 7–18. http://dx.doi. org/10.1037/a0030612. LaFreniere, P. J., & Dumas, J. E. (1996). Social competence and behavior evaluation in children ages 3 to 6 years: The short form (SCBE-30). Psychological Assessment, 8(4), 369–377. Lagacé-Séguin, D. G., & Case, E. (2010). Extracurricular activity and parental involvement predict positive outcomes in elementary school children. Early Child Development and Care, 180(4), 453–462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430802040948. Lam, C., & Wong, N. (1997). Parents' attitude towards extracurricular activities. Chinese University Education Journal, 25(1), 133–148. Lamb, M. E. (2010). How fathers influence children's development? Let me count the ways. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.). The role of the father in child development (pp. 1–26). (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Larson, R. W., Hansen, D. M., & Moneta, G. (2006). Differing profiles of developmental experiences across types of organized youth activities. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 849–863. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.849. Larson, R. W., & Verma, S. (1999). How children and adolescents spend time across the world: work, play, and developmental opportunities. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 701. Lau, E. H., Li, H., & Rao, N. (2012). Exploring parental involvement in early years education in china: Development and validation of the Chinese early parental involvement scale (CEPIS). International Journal of Early Years Education, 20(4), 405–421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2012.743099. Lau, E. Y. H. (2016). A mixed-methods study of paternal involvement in Hong Kong. British Educational Research Journal, 42(6), 1023–1040. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ berj.3248. Lau, E. Y. H., & Cheng, D. W. (2016). An exploration of the participation of kindergarten aged Hong Kong children in extra curricular activities. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 14(3), 294–309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1476718x14552873. Lau, E. Y. H., Li, H., & Rao, N. (2011). Parental involvement and children's readiness for school in China. Educational Research, 53, 95–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 00131881.2011.552243. Mahoney, J. L., Cairns, B. D., & Farmer, T. W. (2003). Promoting interpersonal competence and educational success through extracurricular activity participation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 409–418. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.95. 2.409. Mahoney, J. L., Harris, A. L., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Organized activity participation, positive youth development, and the over-scheduling hypothesis. Social policy report. Society for Research in Child Development, 20(4). Mahoney, J. L., Lord, H., & Carryl, E. (2005). Afterschool program participation and the

485