Influence of Extracurricular Activities on Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Career Aspirations in Adolescents

Abstract

The term extracurricular activities are defined as any structured activity supervised by one or more adults outside regular school hours or the home. Attachment is an enduring emotional bond which an individual forms to another person. Emotion regulation refers to how we try to influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express these emotions. Career aspirations are defined as long-term individual work related goals. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 230 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years. They were divided into three groups: not involved, moderately involved and highly involved in extracurricular activities. The study adopts a factorial design to determine whether there are any main and interactional effects of the level of involvement in extracurricular activities and gender on attachment, emotion regulation and career aspirations in adolescents. The study also adopts a correlational design to determine if the dimensions of attachment and emotion regulation predict career aspirations among adolescents who are not involved, moderately involved and highly involved in extracurricular activities The results showed an influence of involvement in extracurricular activities on adolescents’ mother attachment, father attachment and peer attachment, and career aspirations. Further, adolescents who are highly involved in extracurricular activities were found to be high on alienation. The predictors for career aspirations and its dimension among adolescents who are not involved and moderately involved were found to be peer attachment and its dimensions. However, for those who are highly involved in extracurricular activities, the predictors for career aspirations were found to be mother and father attachment dimensions. The study recommends encouraging adolescents’ participation in extracurricular activities for positive youth development.