Abstract
Even though there are different types of after-school settings, numerous studies have focused on formal after-school settings (i.e., after-school programs or ASPs) and their association with children’s academic, physical, and social-emotional behaviors. The few findings from informal settings are also outdated. To bridge this gap, our study aimed to locate the interrelations between after-school settings and the behavioral outcomes of children with a particular emphasis on children’s delinquency and emotional-behavioral problems. We used the U.S. national dataset, fifth wave of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (nine-year follow-up), with the binary logistic and ordinary least square regression analyses. With a sample size of 3320, we found that children in parental care were reported to commit less delinquency than children in ASPs. Also, children in non-adult care were reported to have more emotional-behavioral problems than children in ASPs. Educators, school social workers, and policymakers should consider the impact of ASPs on children whose parents are not able to spend significant amounts of time with them. In particular, public assistance should be utilized in such a way that helps parents to achieve their children’s positive behavioral outcomes. At the same time, government and community assistance should be provided to enhance the quality of ASPs for the positive results of emotional-behavioral problems of elementary school students.
Highlights
After-school programs have been designed to provide various enrichment activities and academic assistance for the development of academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes of school-aged children during the school week (Durlak et al 2010; Kayalar 2016; Whitson et al 2020)
After-school programs (ASPs)’ components, such as structured curriculum and adult-supervised environment are attractive to parents who must work during the after-school hours
Of mothers had less than high school education, 21.19% had a high school diploma or equivalent, 41.54% had some college or technical training school experience, and 15.54% had a college degree or graduate school diploma
Summary
After-school programs (hereafter ASPs) have been designed to provide various enrichment activities (e.g., physical recreation, arts, music) and academic assistance for the development of academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes of school-aged children during the school week (Durlak et al 2010; Kayalar 2016; Whitson et al 2020). Around 8.4 million U.S school-aged children participate in some type of ASP (Durlak et al 2010). Numerous studies have affirmed the effectiveness of ASPs, with a particular emphasis on academic growth (Mahoney et al 2005; Durlak and Weissberg 2007; Grolnick et al 2007; Pierce et al 2010; Biddle and Mette 2016), physical health (National Center for Health Statistics 2005; Little 2007; Kim and Lochbaum 2017), and social-emotional well-being (Larson 2000; Bartko and Eccles 2003; Pierce et al 2010; Jones and Deutsch 2011; Whitson et al 2020).
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