Parental support and pressure and children's extracurricular activities: relationships with amount of involvement and affective experience of participation

This study examined children's perceptions of their parents' involvement in all types of extracurricular activities, extending research beyond the sports domain. The Parental Involvement in Activities Scale (PIAS) was developed to measure children's perceptions of their parents' involvement. The PIAS resulted in a 16-item measure with 2 factors, "support" and "pressure." The amount of time children spend in their activities and their affective experience of participation were also assessed. Perceived parental support positively predicted participants' amount of extracurricular involvement. Perceived parental support and pressure predicted children's affective experience of participation. Present results suggest that parental support and pressure are variables that may be central to understanding how to optimize children's extracurricular involvement. Recommendations are made regarding how parents can modify their involvement to contribute to their children's positive experience of extracurricular activities, while minimizing involvement that contributes to negative experience. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Inc.