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Patterns of Time Use Among Low-Income Urban Minority Adolescents and Associations with Academic Outcomes and Problem Behaviors

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Abstract

Time budgets represent key opportunities for developmental support and contribute to an understanding of achievement gaps and adjustment across populations of youth. This study assessed the connection between out-of-school time use patterns and academic performance outcomes, academic motivations and goals, and problem behaviors for 504 low-income urban African American and Latino adolescents (54 % female; M = 16.6 years). Time use patterns were measured across eight activity types using cluster analysis. Four groups of adolescents were identified, based on their different profiles of time use: (1) Academic: those with most time in academic activities; (2) Social: those with most time in social activities; (3) Maintenance/work: those with most time in maintenance and work activities; and (4) TV/computer: those with most time in TV or computer activities. Time use patterns were meaningfully associated with variation in outcomes in this population. Adolescents in the Academic cluster had the highest levels of adjustment across all domains; adolescents in the Social cluster had the lowest academic performance and highest problem behaviors; and adolescents in the TV/computer cluster had the lowest levels of intrinsic motivation. Females were more likely to be in the Academic cluster, and less likely to be in the other three clusters compared to males. No differences by race or gender were found in assessing the relationship between time use and outcomes. The study’s results indicate that time use patterns are meaningfully associated with within-group variation in adjustment for low-income minority adolescents, and that shared contexts may shape time use more than individual differences in race/ethnicity for this population.

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Acknowledgments

This article summarizes some of the findings from an evaluation conducted by MDRC, with support from the William T. Grant Foundation, the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), and the Smith Richardson Foundation. The authors give thanks to the many staff members at Seedco and the Neighborhood Partner Organizations who spent countless hours operating the program and collecting the essential data on families’ participation and experiences. We’d also like to thank the many people at MDRC who contributed to managing this study.

Author Contributions

J.A. conceived of the study and participated in the design and coordination of the study. P.M. conceived of the study and participated in the design of the survey instrument. S.W. conducted all statistical analyses and interpretation of the data, while all authors worked closely to interpret the results. S.W. drafted the manuscript with careful input from P.M. and J.A. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Sharon Wolf

  2. Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, 246 Greene Street, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    J. Lawrence Aber & Pamela A. Morris

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Wolf, S., Aber, J.L. & Morris, P.A. Patterns of Time Use Among Low-Income Urban Minority Adolescents and Associations with Academic Outcomes and Problem Behaviors. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1208–1225 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0294-0

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