The relationship between life satisfaction, social interest, and frequencyof extracurricular activities among adolescent students

The relationship between life satisfaction, social interest, and participat ion in extracurricular activities was assessed among adolescent students. A total of 321 high school adolescents (Grades 9-12) were administered a mul tidimensional measure of life satisfaction and a scale that assessed social interest. Adolescents were also asked to list the number of extracurrocula r activities that they participated in since their enrollment in high schoo l. Higher social interest was significantly related to higher levels of ove rall satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with friends and family. Signifi cant race differences were noted. Adolescents who participated in greater n umbers of structured extracurricular activities reported higher school sati sfaction. The relationship between social interest and actual participation in extracurricular activities was negligible. Implications of these findin gs, as well as suggestions for future research are provided.