Despite the expected benefits of organized activity involvement (e.g., sports, clubs), inconsistencies in associations between activity involvement and internalizing and externalizing problems may be explained in part by limitations of measurements and variations between individuals. To address these gaps, a latent variable of organized activity participation was tested as a predictor of internalizing and externalizing problems, and initial child adjustment was tested as a moderator of the outcomes from activity participation. Participants included 431 adolescents (52.2% female; ages 12–13 in seventh grade) from the Child Development Project. Adolescents self-reported activity involvement (seventh grade) and internalizing problems (seventh and ninth grades); mothers reported on adolescents’ externalizing problems (seventh and eighth grade). Structural equation models showed that an activity involvement latent variable predicted lower internalizing problems. The interaction between activity involvement and initial level of externalizing problems predicted externalizing problems. Specifically, higher levels of activity involvement predicted lower levels of externalizing problems at initially lower levels of externalizing problems. However, at higher levels of initial externalizing problems, higher levels of activity involvement predicted higher levels of externalizing problems. The results suggest that activity involvement reduces risk for subsequent internalizing problems but could increase or decrease risk for subsequent externalizing problems depending on initial levels of externalizing problems.

尽管有组织的活动参与（例如，体育、俱乐部）有预期的好处，但活动参与与内化和外化问题之间关联的不一致可能部分是由于测量的局限性和个体之间的差异。为了解决这些差距，有组织的活动参与的潜在变量被测试为内化和外化问题的预测因子，并且初始儿童调整被测试为活动参与结果的调节器。参与者包括来自儿童发展项目的 431 名青少年（52.2% 为女性；年龄在 12-13 岁的七年级）。青少年自我报告的活动参与（七年级）和内化问题（七年级和九年级）；母亲报告了青少年的外化问题（七年级和八年级）。结构方程模型表明，活动参与潜变量预测较低的内化问题。活动参与和外化问题的初始水平之间的相互作用预测了外化问题。具体而言，较高水平的活动参与预测较低水平的外化问题，而最初的外化问题水平较低。然而，在较高水平的初始外化问题上，较高水平的活动参与预示着较高水平的外化问题。结果表明，活动参与降低了后续内化问题的风险，但可能会增加或降低后续外化问题的风险，具体取决于外化问题的初始水平。