42
Four measures of students' activities were used to calculate an overall Activity
Index for each student (Exhibits 3.8-3.9): playing sports, participating in after-school
activities, reading books in their free time, and having a lot of interests. Minority and
non-minority students are almost equally likely to report high activity while girls are
slightly more likely to have a high activity level than boys (32% vs. 28%). According
to these measures, junior high students are more likely than senior high students to
have a high activity level (34% vs. 25%). Quality of life is also associated with activ-
ity level. Students with a high quality of life are much more likely to report a high
activity level than those students with a low quality of life (44% vs. 19%).
Exhibit 3.8
Impact of Gender, Race/Ethnicity and School Level on Activity
Base: All students
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
School Level
Non-
Grades
Grades
Total
Boy
Girl
minority
Minority
7 - 9
10 - 12
Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3961
1454 . . . .2507
2992 . . . .493
1703 . . .2257
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Activity Index
Low . . . . . . . . . . . .18
17 . . . . . .20
18 . . . . . .19
17 . . . . .20
Medium . . . . . . . .52
55 . . . . . .48
51 . . . . . .52
49 . . . . .55
High . . . . . . . . . . .30
28 . . . . . .32
31 . . . . . .29
34 . . . . .25
Exhibit 3.9
Impact of Quality of Life on Activity
Base: All students
Quality of Life
Total
High
Medium
Low
Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3961
885 . . . . .1829 . . . .1247
%
%
%
%
Activity Index
Low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
7 . . . . . . .16 . . . . . .30
Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
49 . . . . . .53 . . . . . .51
High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
44 . . . . . .31 . . . . . .19
Stress
Students and teachers are in agreement as to how many students wish they had more
time for fun, saying that this statement describes three-quarters of students.
However, while nearly three-quarters of students (73%) say that they are under a lot
of pressure to do well in school, teachers think that this is true for only half of their
students (49%) (Exhibits 3.10-3.11). These measures of stress were used to calculate
a Stress Index for each student. Both family income and quality of life are related to
