Children’s After-School Activities and Anxiety Level: American and Taiwanese Comparison
Joan Newman, Christyn Perras, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Chin-Cheng Kao, Yiping Chang, and Anastoassios Matsopoulos
This study investigated the relation between children’s use of after-school time and their anxiety levels. How children use after-school time has important developmental outcomes. Some psychologists think that children are overwhelmed, “hurried,” (Elkind, 1981) and “hot housed” (Sigel, 1987) by their parents. To investigate this possibility, 90 American and 292 Taiwanese 4th graders completed a “what I usually do” questionnaire developed by researchers, and Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. While American students were found to spend more time in enjoyable and self-chosen activities such as sports, peer interaction, reading, and play, Taiwanese students spent more time in adult-chosen activities such as homework, extra academics, and non-sports. Taiwanese students had also higher anxiety scores than their American counterparts. Perceived enjoyment and hours of adult-chosen activities were important contributors to anxiety level for both groups of children.
Keywords: After-school activity, anxiety, cross-cultural comparison
Citation: Newman, J., Perras, C., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., Chang, Y., & Matsopoulos, A. (2004, April). Children’s after-school activities and anxiety level: American and Taiwanese comparison. Poster presented at the 36th annual conference of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH.
Joan Newman, Christyn Perras, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Chin-Cheng Kao, Yiping Chang, and Anastoassios Matsopoulos
This study investigated the relation between children’s use of after-school time and their anxiety levels. How children use after-school time has important developmental outcomes. Some psychologists think that children are overwhelmed, “hurried,” (Elkind, 1981) and “hot housed” (Sigel, 1987) by their parents. To investigate this possibility, 90 American and 292 Taiwanese 4th graders completed a “what I usually do” questionnaire developed by researchers, and Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. While American students were found to spend more time in enjoyable and self-chosen activities such as sports, peer interaction, reading, and play, Taiwanese students spent more time in adult-chosen activities such as homework, extra academics, and non-sports. Taiwanese students had also higher anxiety scores than their American counterparts. Perceived enjoyment and hours of adult-chosen activities were important contributors to anxiety level for both groups of children.
Keywords: After-school activity, anxiety, cross-cultural comparison
Citation: Newman, J., Perras, C., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., Chang, Y., & Matsopoulos, A. (2004, April). Children’s after-school activities and anxiety level: American and Taiwanese comparison. Poster presented at the 36th annual conference of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH.
