Participation in organized leisure among Czech children: sociocultural and ecological contexts and outcomes

Organized leisure activities constitute an important source of experience for school-age children in the Czech Republic. Based on data collected in a longitudinal study, the aim of this paper is to explore two issues. Firstly, to what extent is children's participation in extracurricular activities (EAs) influenced by individual level factors that are determined by family's social status (parental education). Our approach extends this question by asking whether and how ecological factors influence EAs participation by both the opportunity structure (i.e. the volume of school-based EA offerings and the proximity to the nearest leisure centre for children) and the type of residential environment (i.e. settlement types signifying socio-spatial dis/advantages). Secondly, it accesses whether the participation in EAs in first grade has effects on subsequent success in the first semester of fifth grade. The findings revealed that parents' education was the main factor and the residential environment was the second one. These results suggest that not only schools but also the local community may encourage children to engage in EAs. Moreover, we found a positive effect of early participation in EAs on subsequent achievement. However, among seven types of EAs, only the effect of engagement in intellectually stimulating activities was confirmed.