In order to support organized after-school activity participation for all students, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, our research addresses the following overarching questions:
How do we make after-school activities positive, promotive contexts for all youth?
What are the predictors of youth’s participation in organized after-school activities across diverse youth?
What are diverse youth’s experiences within organized after-school activities and how do these experiences promote their positive development?
How do race/ethnicity, immigration, and culture matter in these activity-related processes?
What do culturally responsive activities look like and what are the most effective culturally responsive practices that staff use in activities?
recent findings
Organized after-school activities are valuable. In addition to preparing adolescents for greater academic success in late adolescence, they can also help adolescents become contributing members of society. Furthermore, afterschool programs have the potential to help Latinx adolescents engage in positive behaviors associated with traditional cultural values of respeto, familism, and religiosity. (Liu, Simpkins, & Vandell, 2021; Lin et al., 2018).
Adolescents from underserved communities are more likely to have positive experiences in after-school activities when they feel their culture, humanity, and language are respected. One way to promote positive experiences for adolescents from underserved communities is by utilizing culturally responsive practices, or specific strategies that are sensitive to the different cultures that youth are a part of. Program staff can use culturally responsive practices to help adolescents feel more connected to after-school activities, peers, and staff. (Liu, Simpkins & Lin, 2018; Ma, Simpkins, & Puente, 2021; Yu et al., 2021, Yu et al., 2022a).
Culturally responsive practices are important because they can promote adolescents’ academic outcomes (e.g., problem-solving skills and motivational beliefs), future STEM career aspirations, and social-emotional skills (e.g., relationship skills). (Soto-Lara et al., 2021; Yu et al., 2021, Yu et al., 2022).
It is critical to ensure parents are connected and involved in after-school activities as parents shape adolescents' enrollment decisions and continued participation in these activities. One way to get Latinx parents connected and involved is by incorporating cultural content into activities, because they can see their culture is reflected and respected in the activities their children are engaging in (Lin et al., 2022; Lin et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2018; Kang et al., 2017).
The key to culturally responsive practices is that they are responsive. Narrow or inaccurate views of youth's culture, even with the best intentions, can have negative consequences. (Liu, Simpkins & Lin, 2018, Ettekal et al., 2020).
Race/ethnic discrimination can happen in after-school activities. After-school staff need to pay close attention to microaggressions that occur in after-school spaces in order to increase Latinx adolescents’ participation in these programs. (Ma et al., 2020; Lin et al., 2016)