Spending Time Or Investing Time? Involvement In High School Curricular and Extracurricular Activities as Strategic Action

A rational choice perspective on social behavior implies that individuals engage in purposive action with the intention of maximizing their interests in valued objectives. Although adolescents have more often been viewed as products of their environments than as rational actors, the choices they face in allocating time and effort among different activities can influence their ability to achieve important life goals. This article develops a conceptual model of involvement as investment to characterize participation in high school curricular and extracurricular activities and the returns they yield for college matriculation. Data from a national sample of students and schools and multi-level statistical methods are used to explore a set of empirical questions derived from this model. Findings demonstrate that activity involvement displays properties characteristic of social exchange and investment. Involvement in both the formal curriculum and school extracurriculars yields significant returns for college matriculation while also showing evidence of diminishing returns associated with overinvesting. Results further show that the point of diminishing returns to investment in formal curricular activities comes at higher levels of involvement for progressively more competitive outcomes and that rates of curricular returns are linked to an actor's goal specificity. Comparisons between actual and optimal patterns of investment suggest that high school students are relatively strategic in their activity involvement.