Psychologists have long warned that children's life schedules are so packed that they undermine their ability to develop the non-academic skills they need in adulthood, from dealing with frustration to building strong relationships. Now three economists say we can calculate some of these psychological costs.
In a new data analysis published in the February 2024 issue of the Economics of Education Review, three economists from the University of Georgia and the Federal Reserve found that students are assigned too much homework and enrolled in so many extracurricular activities that they no longer have “last” time. It didn't help me build my academic skills. Instead, the activity actually harmed students' mental health and made them more anxious, depressed, and angry.
“We’re not saying all of these activities are bad, we’re saying all of them are bad,” said Carolina Caetano, one of the study’s authors and an assistant professor of economics at the University of Georgia. Scheduling homework and scheduled activities around bedtime, eating out and socializing, is also important, she said.
The researchers found that the disadvantages of homework and scheduled activities were most pronounced during high school, when students felt pressured to get high grades and engage in extracurricular activities for college applications.
Unfortunately, researchers haven't been able to put an exact figure on how many hours is too many, and Caetano explained that the number may not be the same for everyone.
Parents who worry that their children's schedules may be too tight should ask themselves if their days are so busy that their children don't even have time for spontaneous playdates, Caetano said. “If you feel overwhelmed, you’re probably going too far,” she said.
Caetano and her research team analyzed the time diaries of 4,300 children and adolescents from kindergarten through 12th grade. These diaries were collected over several years beginning in 1997 as part of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a large, nationally representative household survey overseen by the University of Michigan. Children, parents, and researchers tracked each child's random weekdays and random weekends so the researchers could see how the child spent every minute.
Researchers described a variety of activities aimed at improving children's skills as “enrichment.” Homework was the largest component, accounting for two-thirds of total study time. The remaining enrichment time consisted of reading (14% of enrichment time), followed by before and after school programs (7%). The diaries show relatively little time spent on parent reading, tutoring and other academic classes, and non-academic classes such as piano, soccer, or driver's education. On average, children spent 45 minutes per day on all activities, ranging from 0 to 4 hours per day.
The researchers then compared time spent on these enrichment activities with academic test scores and non-cognitive psychological measures. This was based on parent surveys about their children's behavior, such as withdrawal, anxiety or anger.
At first, there seemed to be a strong correlation between time spent on deeper learning, academic skills, and positive behavior. In other words, students with longer schedules had higher test scores and better behavior.
But scheduled students also tend to be wealthier. Their families have resources for tutors, after-school activities, or babysitters to enforce homework time. It is difficult to say how much of a role the activities played in improving students' skills, or whether children with many of these resources would have done well on tests and non-cognitive measures even without the activities. After adjusting for family income and other demographic characteristics, some of these benefits disappeared. Nonetheless, some association remained between scheduled activities and academic performance. That is, even among two children with the same demographics and household income, the one who had a better schedule and spent more time on homework scored higher.
However, these intended children with identical incomes and demographics still differ from each other in important ways. Some are more motivated or conscientious. Some people have photographic memories or are working hard. Some people are talented at math or music. Kids who choose to do more homework and participate in after-school activities are the ones who are more likely to get higher grades anyway. Untangling how much homework and scheduled activities drive skill improvement is a tricky knot.
In this study, the researchers solved this using new statistical techniques on large datasets. And after adjusting for the effects of students' unobservable or internal differences, all academic advantages disappeared and happiness became negative. That is, the last or cut-off time for homework and activities did not raise students' test scores at all and lowered the child's non-cognitive behavior.
Researchers also discovered a dilemma in the data. Psychological disadvantages of overscheduling students before their cognitive abilities are maximized. For example, a child may improve their academic performance by doing an extra hour of homework or tutoring, but it may come at the expense of their mental well-being. As you spend more time engaging in these activities, your academic performance will eventually drop to zero, but by then your well-being has taken a significant toll.
More research is needed to understand whether some activities cause greater harm to students than others. One question Caetano has is about timing. She wonders what will happen if young children spend less time in primary school. Will that make them more resilient to cope with the time pressures of high school?
The statistical techniques in this study are new, and the researchers debate when and how to use them. Josh Goodman, an education economist at Boston University who was not involved in the study, said the causal argument between overscheduling, academic performance and mental health is “not perfect,” but “sufficient.” “This paper raises very uncomfortable questions (including about my own parenting decisions!),” he said on X (formerly Twitter).
Of course, parents are not entirely to blame. School assigns homework, and if children don't do their homework, their grades will suffer. College admissions departments value applicants with high grades and activities. Caetano sympathizes with parents who find it difficult to individually protest against the current system.
It is equally difficult for a school to unilaterally change its homework policy when it could disadvantage students. In fact, schools that have tried to reduce the pressure have faced the wrath of parents who worry that their children will fall behind the competition if they do less homework. Ultimately, Caetano says education policymakers at the state or federal level must create policies to ease the pressure on everyone.
This story about extracurricular activities was written and produced by Jill Barshay. Hechinger Reportis a nonprofit, independent media outlet focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Proof Points newsletter.