Press Release - February 11, 2002
The way a 10-year-old child spends his or her free time is closely related to how well-adjusted that child is now and will be in two years, a recent study revealed.
Devoting more of that free time to structured and supervised activities, such as hobbies and sports, appears to enhance a child's academic, emotional and behavioral development at this age. Spending more time playing outdoors and hanging out, in contrast, appear to detract from development, the study found.
These findings came from research conducted by a University team including Susan M. McHale, professor of human development and family studies, and her colleagues, Ann C. Crouter, professor of human development and family studies, and Corinna Tucker, who earned her doctorate at the University. McHale noted that American children enjoy a tremendous amount of free time -- up to 50 percent of their waking hours, by some estimates. Previous researchers have speculated that the way this time is spent could strongly influence a child's emotional, academic and behavioral development.
McHale's research indicates they were right, and suggests why. Her team monitored how 198 white, middle- and working-class children in the fourth and fifth grades, averaging 10 years of age, spent their free time. The researchers also examined three indicators of development -- school grades, depression levels and parental reports of bad conduct -- at the same time as they monitored free-time activities. They looked at the same developmental markers two years later.
This press release courtesy of Penn State's Department of Public Information