Kids Involvement and Diversity Study (KIDS)

Organized, out-of-school activities have become an increasingly consequential component of child development, family culture, and social reproduction in 21st century American society. Research has documented that extracurricular activities are strongly associated with a variety of positive outcomes during the school years and beyond. But in recent years, significant inequalities in participation have emerged along both racial and economic lines. As a result, political scientist Robert Putnam, in Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (2015), has identified organized youth activities as a powerful, if somewhat invisible, new mechanism perpetuating “growing class disparities in America’s educational system” (p. 174).

The Kids Involvement and Diversity Study (KIDS) is a collaborative, mixed-methods project led by PIs Doug Hartmann, Teresa Toguchi Swartz, and Ann Meier. It explores the scope and significance of organized, out-of-school activities in the Twin Cities and surrounding metropolitan area. With a team of (mostly volunteer) graduate and undergraduate research assistants, we have used the Twin Cities metro—a region long noted for its investments in youth development, its vibrant civic culture, and its strong public infrastructure, and which is increasingly home to diverse communities of immigrants, refugees, and ethnic minorities—as a laboratory for our work. This research has included mapping activity sites and analyzing the demographics of participation in different neighborhoods and communities. The project also includes a battery of approximately 150 interviews with a diverse cross-section of parents and their children from the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs including a range of economic and racial backgrounds (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and mixed race). Our team has also conducted a series of targeted ethnographic case studies of youth activities programs including a community center enrichment program, a religious day camp, a video gaming community, and soccer, gymnastics, boxing, tennis, football, and cross-country programs.

Publications, Presentations, and Grants

Publications

Hartmann, Doug, and Teresa Swartz. (In submission). "The Diverse New Playing Fields of American Youth Sport:  A Collaborative, Institutional Ethnography."

Manning, Alex. (forthcoming). “The Age of Concerted Cultivation: A Racial Analysis of Parental Repertoires and Childhood Activities.” DuBois Review.

Meier, Ann, Benjamin S. Hartmann, and Ryan Larson. 2018. “A Quarter Century of Youth Activity Participation: Inequalities by Race, Class, Gender and Age?” Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 47:6, pp. 1299-1316.

Hartmann, Douglas and Amy August. 2018. “High School Sports.” Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd Edition.

Hartmann, Douglas and Alex Manning. 2016. “Kids of Color in the American Sporting Landscape: Limited, Concentrated, and Controlled.” Pp. 43-60 in Child’s Play: Sport and Kids’ Worlds, edited by Michael Messner and Micheala Musto. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Nelson, Toben F. 2016. “Sport and the Childhood Obesity Epidemic.” in Child’s Play: Sport and Kids’ Worlds, edited by Michael Messner and Micheala Musto. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 82-101

Hartmann, Douglass. 2015. “Sport and Social Intervention.” Routledge Sociology of Sport Handbook. Ed. Richard Guilianotti. London: Routledge, pp. 335-344.

Presentations

Hartmann, Douglas. 2018. “Social Justice and Racial Inequalities in and through Sport: New Directions.” Opening Conference Keynote, Social Justice through Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium, Minneapolis, MN, April.

Campos, Edgar. 2018. “Learning ‘Lessons’ in the Squared Circle: A Case Study of a Sport for Prevention Program.” Social Justice Through Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium, Minneapolis, MN, April.

Hartmann, Douglas, and Teresa Toguchi Swartz. 2018. “Not Just Child’s Play: Inequality, Ideology, and Community Integration in Organized, Out-of-School Activities.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, March.

Hartmann, Douglas and Teresa Toguchi Swartz. 2018. “Racial Variations in Understandings and Experiences of Organized Youth Activities.” Minnesota Department of Education, Out-of-School Time Group, December.

Swartz, Teresa Toguchi and Douglas Hartmann. 2018. “Racial Variations in Understandings and Experiences of Organized Youth Activities.” Human Capital Research Collaborative, October.

Swartz, Teresa and Douglas Hartmann. 2018. “Not Just Child’s Play: Inequality, Ideology, and Community Integration in Organized, Out-of-School Activities.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, March.

Campos, Edgar. 2018. “Take Two Punches to Give One Punch Back: Learning ‘Life Lessons’ Through the Sport of Boxing.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, MN, April.

Hartmann, Douglas, Teresa Toguchi Swartz, Alex Manning, and Lisa Gulya. 2017. American Sociological Association. Annual Meeting, Montreal,  ON, August.

Hartmann, Douglas and Ryan Larson. 2017. “What is it About Sport? Rethinking Data and Measurement in the Analysis of Participation Rates.” North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Annual Conference, Ontario, Canada, November.

Amy August. 2017. “Kids’ Agency and Team Identity: Defining Symbolic Boundaries in Girls’ Gymnastics,” Sociologists of Minnesota Conference, Coon Rapids, MN, October.

Hartmann, Douglas, Teresa Toguchi Swartz, Alex Manning, and Lisa Gulya. 2017. “Racial Variations in Understandings and Experiences of Organized Youth Activities.” American Sociological Association, Annual Meetings, Montreal, Canada, August.

Hartmann, Douglas. 2017. “The Husky Sport Project: Lessons for SFD Programming and Research.” Sport for Development Conference, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, March.

Amy August. 2017. “Leveling up: Social and Symbolic Boundaries in Girls' Gymnastics,” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Madison, WI, March.

Hartmann, Douglas. 2016. “Serious Kids’ Stuff: The Changing Landscape of Youth Activities, Diversity, and Social Reproduction in the Twin Cities Metro Area.” Center for the Study of the Individual in Society, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, April.

Billups, Sarah Catherine. 2016. “Courting Equality? An Ethnographic Account of Disparities and Differential Treatment within a Youth Non-Profit Tennis Program.” Society for the Study of Social Problems, Seattle, WA. August.

Manning, Alex. 2016. “The Age of Concerted Cultivation: A Racial Analysis of Parental Repertoires, and Childhood Activities.” American Sociological Association, Annual Meetings. Seattle, WA, August.

Amy August. 2016. “NOT Playing to Win: Why Recreational Gymnasts Tumble On,” American Sociological Association, Annual Meetings, Seattle, WA, August.

Meier, Ann, Hartmann, Benjamin, and Ryan Larson. 2016. “25 Years of Youth Activity Participation: Inequalities by Race, Class, and Gender.” Poster presented at the Sociology Research Institute, University of Minnesota. April.

Peterson, Grace, Switalla, Kayla, Wilson, Hayden, and Elizabeth Sobel. 2016. “Awareness of Social Differences and Experiences of Differential Treatment.” Poster presented at the Sociology Research Institute, University of Minnesota. April.

Larson, Ryan. 2016. “Mapping Youth Activities in the Twin-Cities Metro Area.” Presented at the Sociology Research Institute, University of Minnesota. April.

Hartmann, Douglas. 2016. “Serious Kids’ Stuff: The Changing Landscape of Youth Activities, Diversity, and Social Reproduction in the Twin Cities Metro Area.” Center for the Study of the Individual in Society, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota. April.

Hartmann, Douglas, August, Amy, and Sarah Catherine Billups. 2016. “A Not-So-Level Playing Field: The Value of Ethnography in Studying Inequality in Children’s Extracurricular Activities.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. March.

Manning, Alex, Swartz, Teresa, and Lisa Gulya. 2016. “For Fun or for Futures?: How Parents and Children from Diverse Racial and Class Backgrounds Understand and Talk about Youth Activities.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. March.

Swartz, Teresa, Manning, Alex, and Lisa Gulya. 2016. “What Parents and Kids think of Extracurricular Activities: Varying Motivations, Understandings, and Experiences.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. March.

Billups, Sarah Catherine. 2016. “What Makes it all Fun and Games?: Ethnography of Inequality in Youth Tennis.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. March.

Meier, Ann, Hartmann, Benjamin, and Ryan Larson. 2016. “25 Years of Youth Activity Participation: Inequalities by Race, Class, & Gender?” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL. March.

Swartz, Teresa Toguchi, Alex Manning, and Lisa Gulya. 2016. “What Parents and Kids Think of Children’s Extracurricular Activities: Varying Motivations, Understandings, and Experiences.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL, March.

Meier, Ann, Benjamin S Hartmann, and Ryan Larson. 2016. “25 Years of Youth Activity Participation: Inequalities by Race, Class, and Gender?” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL, March.

August, Amy. 2016. "Factors Shaping the Field of Kids’ Activities: The Case of Gymnastics Programs." Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, March.

Hartmann, Doug, Sarah Catherine Billups, Amy August. 2016. “A Not-So-Level Playing Field: The Value of Ethnography in Studying Inequality in Children's Extracurricular Activities.” Midwest Sociological Society, Annual Meetings, Chicago, IL, March.

Hartmann, Douglas, Ann Meier, and Teresa Swartz. 2015. “Not Just Child’s Play: Emerging Findings from a Multi-method Study of Youth Activities, Race, and the Reproduction of Social Inequalities.” Methods and Inequality Workshop, Minnesota Population Center, October.

Hartmann, Douglas. 2015. “Diversity and Inequality in the Athletic and Extracurricular Activities of American Kids: Mapping Access, Understanding Motivations, and Assessing Differential Treatment.” Sustainable Cities and Just Sport Conference, Georgia Institute of Technology, March.

Amy August. 2014. “Kids’ Activities as a Locus of Learning: How Parents Supplement School Curricula to Facilitate Child Development,” Work, Family & Time Workshop, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, December.

Amy August. 2014. “Kids’ Activities as a Locus of Learning: How Parents Supplement School Curricula to Facilitate Child Development,” Midwest Sociology of Education Association, South Bend, IN, October.

Grants and Awards

Faculty
Teresa Swartz. 2016. Multicultural Research Award, Institute for Diversity, Equity and Advocacy, University of Minnesota: “It’s Not Just Child’s Play: How Parents and Kids of Diverse and Under-Represented Backgrounds Understand, Access, and Experience Youth Activities.”

Doug Hartmann. 2016. Joan Aldous Diversity Grant. $5000. “Choosing Youth Activities in a Diverse Community: A Guidebook for Minnesota Parents.”

Teresa Swartz. 2015-2016. Grant-in-Aid: “It’s Not Just Child’s Play:’ How Parents and Kids of Diverse Backgrounds Understand, Access, and Experience Youth Activities.”

Meier, Ann. 2015-2016. Grant-in-Aid, Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota. “Out-of-School Activities, Social Inequality, and Youth Development.”

Hartmann, Douglas. 2015-2016. Faculty Interactive Research Program, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. “Not Just Fun and Games: Mapping Diversity and Inequality in Out-of-School Youth Activities.”

Graduate Students
Amy August, “Child Experiences of Competition in Extracurricular Activities of Varying Levels and Types” GRPP with Doug Hartmann, Summer 2015.

Sarah Catherine Billups, “Courting Equality? An Ethnographic Account of Disparities and Differential Treatment within a Youth Non-Profit Tennis Program” GRPP with Doug Hartmann, Summer 2016.

Amy August, “Children's Extracurricular Activities as Social Capital: How Parents Understand the Value of Competition” Life Course Center Fellowship with Doug Hartmann, Summer 2014.

Undergraduate Students
Alejandra Narvaez (UROP with Hartmann, Summer 2018)
Nahrissa Rush (McNair with Hartmann, Summer 2018)
Susan Phetsamone (McNair with Swartz, Summer 2017)
Benjamin Hartmann (UROP with Meier, Summer 2016)

Freshman Research Awards
Lauryn Greenfield, Spring 2018
Latavia Watson, Spring 2018
Katarina Tolic, Spring 2018
Selene Anaya, Spring 2017
Luagntxhi Yang, Spring 2017
Mary Cait Bayliss, Spring 2017
Autumn Askew, Spring 2016
Ryan Russell, Spring 2016
Christina Rademacher, Spring 2016
Emily Gilbert, Spring 2016
Lauren Berg, Spring 2016
Anne Johnson, Spring 2016