Parental Socioeconomic Status and Students' Postsecondary Educational Attainment: Exploring the Mediating Role of Students' Participation in Extracurricular Activities During High School

• Author / Creator

  Amjad Hafeez, Aleena

• An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest (Benjamin Franklin). Benjamin Franklin's cogent observation continues to hold true in North America. Postsecondary educational attainment is a consistent and reliable indicator of an individual's wellbeing in adulthood (Ermisch & Pronzato, 2010). In light of this, Canadian educational policies emphasize inclusiveness and equity (Alberta Education, 2017), however, despite efforts to equalize in-school conditions for students, the OECD reports that 9.4% of Canadian students' mathematics performance is determined by their socioeconomic status (OECD, 2015). These differences are further exacerbated at the postsecondary level, where rates of attainment and types of degree pursued differ greatly between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds (Krahn, 2017; Finnie & Mueller, 2008). It is important, therefore, to examine factors that allow for this relationship to persist, such as extracurricular activity participation. This study explores the mediating role of extracurricular activity participation in high school (at age 18) on the relationship between parental socioeconomic status and students' postsecondary educational attainment at age 25. I use data collected for the Alberta High School Graduate Survey (1996) and Follow-up Survey (2003) by Dr. Harvey Krahn and the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta to examine the effect of students' extracurricular participation in high school on their postsecondary educational attainment using structural regression modeling techniques. This study delineates activities by type, into high-, mid-, and low- brow activities, as prior research conducted in the United States has indicated that such factors might influence the focal relationship (Guest & Schneider, 2003; Schreiber & Chambers, 2002). I use Bourdieu and Passeron's (1990) theory of social and cultural reproduction in education to examine the role of participation in extracurricular activities in facilitating the greater postsecondary educational attainment of students from high socioeconomic backgrounds. I also use Lareau's (2002) model of the concerted cultivation parenting style to explain the ways in which high socioeconomic status is linked to high socioeconomic students' greater extracurricular participation. In this study, I did not find a mediating effect of different types of extracurricular activities, high- and mid- brow activity participation, on the focal relationship between parental socioeconomic status and respondents' postsecondary educational attainment. Results, however, indicate higher levels of participation in both high- and mid- brow activities among students from higher socioeconomic status families. Furthermore, I found a direct relationship between greater high- and mid- brow activity participation at age 18 and respondents' higher educational attainment levels at age 25. I discuss implications of these findings and recommendations for future research.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Postsecondary Education
  • Intergenerational Mobility
  • Intergenerational Advantage
  • Socioeconomic Status
  • Cultural Capital
  • Extracurricular Activities
  • Leisure-time Activities

• Graduation date

  Spring 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3CJ8819X

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.