After-school time and children's behavioral adjustment

After-school time was examined for 206 urban children in first through fourth grades. The sample varied in race/ethnicity (African American, European American, and Hispanic American children) and SES. Children spent time after school in a variety of settings, engaged in a range of activities. Mothers/guardians of lower-income children reported greater externalizing problems among children in unsupervised care (self-care or sibling care), and fewer internalizing problems among children attending after-school programs, after controlling for family and child characteristics. There were no such associations for middle-income children. Children in after-school programs spent more time interacting with peers and less time watching television than did children in parental care or other adult care. Children who spent more time after school interacting with peers and less time after school in large motor activities had fewer internalizing problems. This association was stronger for lower-income children than for middle-income children.