Athletics and Academic Achievement in Latino Youth: A Cautionary Tale
Anthropology & Education Quarterly
Published online on April 20, 2017
Abstract
Participation in extracurricular activities has been associated with enhanced academic achievement in Latino youth. Based on a longitudinal case study of one immigrant adolescent, this article finds that athletic participation is in itself neither a wholly positive or negative influence on Latino school achievement. Rather, effects of extracurricular sports on academic outcomes are mediated by complex factors including but not limited to ethnicity and are more contextually dependent and individually variable than existing scholarship suggests.