 Adolescents’ Participation in Extracurricular Activities: The Importance of Autonomous Motivation 
Several studies have shown that adolescents’ participation in extracurricular activities (such as sports, arts, and civic) can contribute to their psychological functioning. However, the motivational aspect of their participation has been neglected. The present study examined the association between participation in extracurricular activities and adolescents’ psychological functioning. More specifically, it was investigated whether certain types of motivation to engage in the activity were differentially associated with adolescents’ psychological functioning. Considering the special nature of civic engagement, this study also investigated whether autonomous motivation for civic activities was more strongly linked to psychological functioning than autonomous motivation for non-civic activities. In total, 1622 high school students reported their participation in civic and non-civic activities and their motivation (autonomous or controlled) to participate. They also completed psychological functioning measures including self-esteem, basic needs satisfaction, quality of interpersonal relationships with parents and friend, and attachment to their school. The results revealed that participation was weakly associated with adolescents’ psychological functioning. However, autonomous motivation for activities was positively associated with psychological functioning, whereas for controlled motivation, the link was negative. Moreover, for adolescents that participated in both types of activities, the best predictor of psychological functioning was autonomous motivation for civic activities. These results suggest that the type of motivation in participation should be taken into consideration.