How do youth choose activities? Assessing the relative importance of the micro-selection mechanisms behind adolescent extracurricular activity participation

Abstract

We investigate the network micro-selection mechanisms responsible for patterns of high school student extracurricular activity (ECA) participation, with a particular focus on those that can lead to ethnoracial segregation. We identify six types of mechanisms by which students select into activities (e.g., peer influence, homophily), which we test using a unique longitudinal dataset that combines student surveys with yearbook data on ECA involvement. These contexts represent two ethnoracially diverse U.S. high schools involving 2403 students and over 200 different activities spanning two school years. Using a stochastic actor-oriented model for two-mode networks, we find support for the hypothesized activity selection mechanisms. Follow-up analyses convey the relative importance of different mechanisms and inform our discussion of how ECA participation patterns develop and possible sources of segregation.