The data

The data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), a comprehensive survey of Canadian children’s development and factors that have an impact on their well-being.⁷ Cycle 4, which was conducted in the fall of 2000 and in the spring of 2001, was selected for this analysis because it is the most recent NLSCY cycle that provides nationally representative, cross-sectional data for a sample of children aged 6 to 17, including information on a variety of socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the family and children’s participation in various activities. This analysis pertains to 5,242 children aged 6 to 9 (representing 1,495,358 children) and 6,926 children and teens aged 10 to 17 (representing 2,889,183 youth).

Information about participation in organized extracurricular activities was reported by parents for 6- to 9-year-olds, and self-reported by 10- to 17-year-olds. Youth not attending school at the time of the survey (about 10% of 16- and 17-year-olds) and children not yet in school (3% of 6- to 9-year-olds) were excluded from this analysis because they had more disposable time and would not be comparable.

Most NLSCY questions about the frequency of participation in various activities referred to the previous 12 months. The exception was questions asked of 14- to 17- year-olds about school-related activities, which concerned the last 3 months. Response categories for parents of 6- to 9-year-olds were: “almost never,” “about once a month,” “about once a week,” “a few times a week,” and “most days.” Response categories for 10- to 17-year-olds were: “never,” “less than once a week,” “1 to 3 times a week,” and “4 or more times a week.” Responses of “almost never” and “never” were categorized as non-participation; all other responses were categorized as participation in an extracurricular activity.

Three types of organized activity were examined: sports, non-sport activities, and clubs or community groups. Two questions were asked about sports: participation in sports with a coach or instructor, and participation or instruction in other physical activities such as dance, gymnastics and martial arts with a coach or instructor. These activities were aggregated into a single variable, organized sports.  Non-sport activities include lessons (other than in class) in music, art, drama, etc. Clubs or community groups refer to associations such as Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Scouts, church groups, and 4-H. Youth aged 14 to 17 were asked about participation in both school-related (but out of class) activities such as yearbook club, photography club and student council, and in out-of-school activities. The Appendix contains the full wording of the questions.

The socio-demographic and socio-economic factors examined in relation to extracurricular activities were: age, gender, region (the eastern provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; Quebec; Ontario; and the Western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), urban or rural residence (urban areas were defined as areas with a population of at least 1,000 and a minimum of 400 people per square kilometre), whether the child lived with one or two parents, and the ratio of family income to the low income cut-off (LICO). The LICO is a statistical measure of the income thresholds below which families likely devote a larger-than-average share of their income to the necessities of food, shelter and clothing.⁸ To reflect differences in costs for different community and family sizes, LICOs are defined for five community size categories and seven family size categories.

Participation rates by socio-demographic characteristics were tested for statistical differences with t-tests. All analyses were weighted using a normalized population weight, and variance estimation used the bootstrap technique to account for the complex survey design.^9-11