The linear and nonlinear effects of organized extracurricular activities on Chinese Preschoolers’ development

摘要: Abstract How children spend time outside of school has consequences for their learning and development. Research on extracurricular participation focused primarily school-aged youth in Western societies. Yet, activities are a common but understudied context early development Mainland China. In the present study, we employed developmental model threshold as lens to examine linear nonlinear impact three domains among 695 Chinese preschoolers. There main findings. First, there was partial support effect (i.e., model). After controlling demographic variables children’s prior performance, involvement positively associated with cognitive language development, not social-emotional Second, also overscheduling hypothesis The results showed quadratic intensity, breadth, total number well breadth Finally, extended traditional by examining how duration interacted other dimensions involvement. suggest that increasing or intensity would benefit when relatively short. However, these influences became neutral at average levels harmful cases very long duration. Implications our findings discussed.