Work and play take school time away? The impact of extracurricular and work time on educational time for live-at-home college students. Issue 24 (21st May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crispin, Laura M.; Nikolaou, Dimitrios
• Is Part Of: Applied economics. Volume 50:Issue 24(2018)
• Page Start: 2698
• Page End: 2718
• Publication Date: 2018-05-21
• Subjects: Extracurricular participation -- working during school -- class time -- homework time -- simultaneity; I20 -- J22 -- J24; Economics -- Periodicals; 330
• DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2017.1406656
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-6846

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We use data from the 2003–2014 American Time Use Survey to estimate the effects of time allocated to work and extracurriculars on time spent in educational activities (class and homework) for live-at-home college students, who make up a large share of the college population. Our instrumental variables strategy indicates that students are more likely to substitute time away from homework than from class, and that the effects are generally stronger for work than for extracurriculars. These findings, which remain even after correcting for selection on unobservables through non-parametric matching methods, show that work leads to decreases in the amount of time spent in class by 47 min and on homework by 56 min, whereas extracurriculars lead to a loss of 22 min of homework time. Thus, while after-school activities (extracurriculars and work) may be beneficial with respect to human capital development, they may also have a counteracting, unintended effect due to students' substitution away from educational pursuits.