Do school friends participate in similar extracurricular activities? Examining the moderating role of race/ethnicity and age

Adolescents who participate in school-based extracurricular activities have higher adjustment than adolescents who do not participate. A critical, but often overlooked, question is what are the predictors of adolescents' participation in activities? The purpose of this study was to test whether school friends' activities predicted adolescents' activities. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N= 53,070; 7^th through 12^th graders). Adolescents' friendship networks were used to create indicators of friends' participation in (a) total number of activities, (b) three main types of activities, and (c) 31 specific activities. Results suggested that adolescents were likely to participate in similar activities as their friends. This association was stronger for Whites than racial/ethnic minorities and for older than younger adolescents.