Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity, UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.
System Performance Division, Government of South Australia Department for Education, 31 Flinders St Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.
BMC Pediatr. 2022 May 21;22(1):297. doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03322-1.
Lower socioeconomic status is associated with poorer wellbeing among children. Identifying how children participate in after-school activities and how after-school activities are associated with wellbeing may inform interventions to improve wellbeing among children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. This study explored whether children's after-school activities varied by socioeconomic status and examined the associations between after-school activities and wellbeing in low socioeconomic status children.
This study analysed cross-sectional data from 61,759 school students in years 4 to 9 who completed the 2018 South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection. Students reported the number of days per week they participated in 12 activities (after-school care, homework, music lessons or practice, youth organisations, sports, television, videogames, social media, reading, chores, arts and crafts, and socialising with friends) during the after-school period (3-6 pm) and their wellbeing (happiness, sadness, worry, engagement, perseverance, optimism, emotion regulation, and life satisfaction). Socioeconomic status was measured by parents' highest education level obtained from school enrolment data. Linear multilevel models were used to examine whether frequency of after-school activities varied by socioeconomic status. Multilevel ordered logit models were used to analyse the association between after-school activities and wellbeing amongst participants in the low socioeconomic status category.
After-school activities differed according to socioeconomic status; high socioeconomic status children did more frequent sport, homework, and reading and low socioeconomic status children did more frequent screen-based activities (TV, videogames and social media). Among children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, higher wellbeing was associated most consistently with more frequent sports participation, homework, reading and spending time with friends and less frequent videogames, social media and after-school care.
Children's wellbeing is positively associated with socioeconomic status. Amongst children from disadvantaged backgrounds, participating in sport, spending time with friends and getting less screen time may be protective for wellbeing. The results suggest that programming targeted at increasing sports participation and reducing screen time amongst children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds may support their wellbeing.
较低的社会经济地位与儿童的幸福感较差有关。确定儿童参与课外活动的方式以及课外活动与幸福感的关系，可以为改善来自低社会经济背景的儿童的幸福感提供信息。本研究探讨了儿童的课外活动是否因社会经济地位而异，并研究了低社会经济地位儿童的课外活动与幸福感之间的关联。
本研究分析了 2018 年南澳大利亚州幸福感和参与度调查中 61759 名 4 至 9 年级学生的横断面数据。学生报告了他们在放学后（下午 3 点至 6 点）每周参加 12 项活动（课后托管、家庭作业、音乐课程或练习、青年组织、运动、看电视、玩电子游戏、使用社交媒体、阅读、做家务、艺术和手工艺以及与朋友社交）的天数，以及他们的幸福感（快乐、悲伤、担忧、投入、坚持、乐观、情绪调节和生活满意度）。社会经济地位通过从学校注册数据中获取的父母最高受教育水平来衡量。线性多层模型用于检查课外活动的频率是否因社会经济地位而异。多层有序逻辑回归模型用于分析低社会经济地位组中课外活动与幸福感之间的关联。
根据社会经济地位，课外活动存在差异；高社会经济地位的孩子更频繁地参加运动、做作业和阅读，而低社会经济地位的孩子则更频繁地参与基于屏幕的活动（电视、电子游戏和社交媒体）。在来自低社会经济背景的儿童中，更高的幸福感与更频繁地参加体育运动、做作业、阅读以及与朋友共度时光最一致，而与更频繁地玩电子游戏、使用社交媒体和课后托管的情况相反。
儿童的幸福感与社会经济地位呈正相关。在处于不利地位的背景下的儿童中，参加体育运动、与朋友共度时光和减少屏幕时间可能对幸福感有保护作用。结果表明，针对增加来自低社会经济背景的儿童的体育参与度和减少其屏幕时间的计划可能会支持他们的幸福感。
