Differences in developmental experiences for commonly used categories of organized youth activities

The coherence of adolescents' self-reported learning experiences between subgroups of organized youth activities within five commonly used categories was evaluated. Data for the present study come from a representative sample of eleventh grade adolescents' reports on learning experiences in an organized youth activity using the Youth Experience Survey (YES, 2.0). Overall, the findings indicated that within some categories of organized youth activities the subgroups were fairly homogeneous in their rates of learning experiences whereas in others the subgroups demonstrated greater differences than similarities. The implications for grouping activities into commonly used categories are discussed.