Less structure = better outcomes? 

Frontiers in Psychology has published a new study that suggests that children whose time is less structured are better able to meet their own goals. 

As part of the study, parents of 70 6-year-olds were surveyed about their children's daily, annual, and typical schedules. Researchers then categorized the children's activities as either more structured or less structured, based on categorization schemes from prior studies on children's leisure-time use. In their classification system, structured time was defined to include any time outside of formal schooling spent in activities organized and supervised by adults (e.g., piano lessons, organized soccer practice, community service, and homework). Less-structured activities included free play alone and with others, social outings, sightseeing, reading, and media time. The children were also evaluated for self-directed executive function - the ability to set and reach goals independently - with a verbal fluency test. 

Results of the study showed that the more time children spent in less-structured activities, the better their self-directed executive functioning. Conversely, the more time children spent in more-structured activities, the poorer their self-directed executive function. 

The researchers emphasize that their results show a correlation between time use and self-directed executive function, but they don't prove that the change in self-directed executive function was caused by the amount of structured or unstructured time. The research team is considering a longitudinal study, which would follow participants over time, to begin to answer the question of cause.

Johns Hopkins University 

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