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The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.

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Research Description

Overview and Components The Yale Study of Children’s After-School Time involves a 4-year longitudinal investigation of a representative sample of children who attended Grades 1–3 in Fall 2002. During the 2002–2003 school year, 37% of the sample participated in an after school program (ASP) that was part of a northeast city’s citywide after school initiative in the public school district. The remainder of sample had alternative after school arrangements including care from parents and other adults and self/sibling care. The study’s main goal is to understand how the variety of after school care arrangements these children experience relate to their overall development and well being over time.
Start Date Fall 2002 (ongoing, with anticipated completion in March 2007)
Scope local
Type after school
Location urban
Setting public school
Participants elementary school students (Grades 1–6)
Number of Sites/Grantees 9 ASPs in 3 public schools at baseline (Fall 2002) and 25 ASPs in 37 public schools at the most recent follow-up (Fall 2006)
Number Served The study involves 651 children enrolled in Grades 1–3 at one of 3 public schools in 2002—2003 (year 1).
Study Details The 3 schools were selected partly because they were located in geographically distinct areas and were among the most disadvantaged in the city (e.g., over 95% of students at these schools were eligible for free or reduced lunch in the 2002–2003 school year). All of the ASPs at these schools received support from a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant and from local, state, and federal sources, as well as modest enrollment fees based on family income. All the ASPs had been operating for at least 5 years prior to the beginning of the study.

The ASPs’ goals are to provide a safe and supportive environment after school and to promote youth’s academic and social competence, and physical health. The ASPs are carried out within public schools between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., with activities conducted separately by grade. Each ASP includes time for a snack, homework, enrichment learning (e.g., musical instruments, computers), supervised recreation (e.g., basketball, board games), and art. The majority of participants live in poverty and represent traditionally defined minority groups.
Funding Level The study’s funding totaled $1,086,623 (direct and indirect costs).
Funding Sources The study is supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
Researchers Joseph L. Mahoney, Heather Lord, and Maria E. Parente, Department of Psychology, Yale University

Erica Carryl, Department of Applied Psychology, New York University
Research Profiled An Ecological Analysis of After School Program Participation and the Development of Academic Performance and Motivational Attributes for Disadvantaged Children

Afterschool Program Participation and the Development of Child Obesity and Peer Acceptance

Afterschool Program Engagement: Links to Child Competence and Program Quality and Content
Research Planned Forthcoming reports include:

Lord, H., & Mahoney, J. L. (acceptance pending). Neighborhood crime and self care: Risks for aggression and lower academic performance. Developmental Psychology.

Lord, H. (2006). Examining afterschool programs and self care as moderators in the association between neighborhood risk and children’s academic performance and aggression. Unpublished dissertation, Yale University.
Report Availability Mahoney, J. L., Lord, H, & Carryl, E. (2005). An ecological analysis of after-school program participation and the development of academic performance and motivational attributes for disadvantaged children. Child Development, 76(4), 811–825.

Mahoney, J. L., Lord, H, & Carryl, E. (2005). Afterschool program participation and the development of child obesity and peer acceptance. Applied Developmental Science, 9(4), 202–215. Available at www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s1532480xads0904_3.

Mahoney, J. L., Parente, M. E., & Lord H. (in press). Afterschool program engagement: Links to child competence and program quality and content. The Elementary School Journal.


Contacts

Research Joseph L. Mahoney, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
Yale University
P.O. Box 208205
New Haven, CT 06520
Tel: 203-432-7904
Fax: 203-432-7172
Email: joseph.mahoney@yale.edu
Profile Updated November 15, 2006

Research Study 3: Afterschool Program Engagement: Links to School Competence and Program Quality and Content


Research Description

Research Purpose To examine ASP engagement levels (e.g., whether youth appear engaged, focused, and interested in activities) in relation to child competencies, program quality, and program content. Child competencies examined include: (a) effectance motivation (the intrinsic pleasure derived from solving difficult problems); (b) social competence (youth’s aggression and popularity); and (c) school grades. Program quality refers to supportive relations with adults and peers, opportunities for cognitive growth (e.g., activity requires youth to plan, synthesize ideas, or use information to accomplish a goal or make a decision), appropriate structure (e.g., activity instructions are clear and appropriate), chaos (e.g., youth are out of control), and mastery orientation (e.g., activities challenge youth in developmentally appropriate ways without being so difficult that they discourage participation). ASP content was examined in three areas: non-skill building, homework, and enrichment.
Research Design Quasi-Experimental: Across the 2002–2003 school year, 870 first through third graders at 3 public schools were invited to participate in the study. Of these, 651 received parental consent to participate (75%). The sample was balanced by gender (48% female) and was racially/ethnically diverse (45% Hispanic, 34% Black, and 21% other). The poverty status of the sample was as follows: 14% extremely poor (below 50% of the poverty threshold), 42% poor (50–100% of the threshold), 34% near poor (100–175% of the threshold), and 11% nonpoor (above 175% of the threshold).

The subsample for this study includes all study participants enrolled in an ASP during the spring of year 2 (n = 141), at which time data on ASP engagement, quality, and content were collected. Compared to the overall sample, the subsample attended an ASP for more days during year 1 (p < .001) and was more likely to be African American than Hispanic (p < .01). In year 2: girls (vs. boys, p < .05), Hispanics (vs. African Americans, p < .05), and first graders (vs. third graders, p < .01) attended ASPs observed to be significantly higher in engagement than their peers. These variables were controlled for in the analyses.

Classroom teachers completed fall and spring surveys in year 1 and 2. In the spring of year 2, participating ASPs were observed. Analyses assessed whether year 2 ASP participation was selective (e.g., youth who were more competent in year 1 were more apt to participate in more engaging ASPs in year 2). Researchers also evaluated whether year 2 engagement levels were positively related to effectance motivation, social competence, and school grades, using models that accounted for youth’s nesting in ASPs and schools. Further, associations were examined between ASP engagement, process quality, and content.
Data Collection Methods Document Review: On the observation day, each ASP site provided a written copy of their weekly schedule, which described the programs’ activity plans separately by grade in 30-minute blocks of time.

Observation: Observations were conducted during a typical day at each ASP. To examine content, the number of minutes spent observed in each content area (non-skill building, homework, and enrichment) was recorded.

Secondary Source/Data Review: ASP attendance was determined for all 141 subsample participants based on daily attendance records collected by ASP staff.

Children’s grades in reading, math, writing, language, social studies, and science were collected from school academic records and coded separately on a scale of 1 (unsatisfactory or failing) to 4 (excellent or ‘‘A’’). Subject grades were summed and averaged to create an overall grades measure. Each participant’s school and grade attended was collected from school records.

Surveys/Questionnaires: School day classroom teacher surveys asked about the participating students’ social and academic competence in the classroom.

Test/Assessments: Program engagement and quality were recorded during observations using the Promising Practices Rating System (Vandell et al., 2004), modified to use a 7-point rather than a 4-point scale and reflecting the extent to which each of the rated constructs was characteristic of the ASP (i.e., 1 = highly uncharacteristic to 7 = highly characteristic).

The classroom teacher survey included child assessments from two measures: (a) the EZ-Yale Personality Questionnaire’s (Zigler, Bennett-Gates, & Hodapp, 1999) effectance motivation ¬scale and (b) the Interpersonal Competence Scale’s (ICS; Cairns, Leung, Gest, & Cairns, 1995) social competence scale, which involves items related to aggression (gets into trouble, gets into fights, argues) and popularity (popular with boys/girls, lots of friends). All items were rated on a scale of 1 (very much untrue of the child) to 5 (very much true of the child).

References:
Cairns, R. B., Leung, M. C., Gest, S. D., & Cairns, B. D. (1995). A brief method for assessing social development: Structure, reliability, stability, and developmental validity of the interpersonal competence scale. Behaviour Research and Therapy Incorporating Behavioural Assessment, 33, 725–736.

Vandell, D. L., Reisner, E. R., Brown, B. B., Pierce, K. M., Dadisman, E. M. (2004). The study of promising after-school programs: Descriptive report of the promising programs. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Zigler, E., Bennett-Gates, D., & Hodapp, R. (1999). Assessing personality traits of individuals with mental retardations. In E. Zigler & D. Bennett-Gates (Eds.), Personality development in individuals with mental retardation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Data Collection Timeframe Data were collected during year 1 (2002–2003) and year 2 (2003–2004) of the study.


Findings:
Formative/Process Findings

Activity Implementation With respect to process quality, the ASPs were relatively high in terms of organization and social climate and moderate with respect to a focus on skill building.

The proportion of time spent in the three content areas was similar for both observations and ASP schedules. ASPs scheduled less time for non-skill-building activities and more time for enrichment than was observed, but these differences were not significant.
Recruitment/Participation The average number of ASP days attended by the subsample was 66 in year 1 and 106 in year 2. The greater number of year 2 days attended reflects the fact that the subsample included only those sample youth who were enrolled in an ASP during the spring of year 2 regardless of whether they were enrolled in year 1, so some of these youth may not have been enrolled in an ASP in year 1.

ASP engagement was higher in programs with greater levels of: program structure (p < .01), supportive relationships with peers and adults (p < .05), cognitive growth opportunities (p < .01), and observed time spent on enrichment (p < .05). Relationships between engagement and the other variables assessed (chaos, mastery orientation, time spent on non-skill building and homework) were not significant.


Summative/Outcome Findings

Youth Development Attending a more engaging ASP was significantly associated with higher effectance motivation (p <. 05) and social competence (p < .01), controlling for prior competence and demographic variables. Engagement levels were not related to school grades.

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