Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning

In 2005, WBL published a report "Leisure contexts in adolescence and their effects on adult outcomes" in which youth club participation in adolescence was found to be associated with a range of negative later-life outcomes. The overall purpose of the current analyses is to better understand how youth club participation and other forms of adolescent leisure activities can act to positively impact on the life trajectories of young people as they move from adolescence into adulthood.

First, we examine how engaging in combinations of activities in adolescence is associated with a range of adult outcomes, including highest educational attainment and socioeconomic indicators. In particular, we examine how going to youth clubs in combination with other activities influences the negative trajectory that youth club attendance was found to have in the previous report.

In addition to examining these combinations, we also consider how the structure (or lack of structure) of youth club activities may influence who attends youth clubs, as well as the life trajectories of the attendees. We conceptualise that ‘structure’ in youth clubs signals the presence of adult-driven and supervised activities. These types of structured activities do not promote antisocial behaviour as they require the attention and participation of the young people, as well as ongoing activity-related feedback from the adult supervisors.

The findings from this research suggest engaging in combinations of activities tends to reduce the overall negative impact of youth clubs that was identified in earlier research. Unstructured youth clubs were also found to be associated with negative later-life outcomes, particularly low educational attainment. It was also found that the most ‘at risk’ or disadvantaged youth were those most likely to attend unstructured clubs. We suggest that such clubs tend to attract youth who are the most at risk of undesirable life trajectories and can serve to be an intervening point of first contact in youth work but that greater investment in facilities and training is required.