Children whose time is less structured are better able to set their own goals and meet them without prodding from adults, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder found that children who participate in more structured activities -- including soccer practice, piano lessons and homework - had poorer "self-directed executive function," a measure of the ability to set and reach goals independently. 

Less-structured activities include free play alone and with others, social outings, sightseeing, reading and media time. Structured activities include chores, physical lessons, non-physical lessons and religious activities. Activities that did not count in either category include sleeping, eating meals, going to school and commuting.

"Executive function is extremely important for children," Yuko Munakata, senior author of the study, said in a statement. "It helps them in all kinds of ways throughout their daily lives, from flexibly switching between different activities rather than getting stuck on one thing, to stopping themselves from yelling when angry, to delaying gratification. Executive function during childhood also predicts important outcomes, like academic performance, health, wealth and criminality, years and even decades later."

For the study, researchers asked parents of 70 6-year-olds to record their child's daily activities for a week. The scientists then categorized those activities as either more structured or less structured, relying on existing time-use classifications already used in scientific literature by economists. The children also were evaluated for self-directed executive function with a commonly used verbal fluency test.

Based on the findings, the more time children spent in less structured activities, the better their self-directed executive function. Conversely, the more time children spent in more structured activities the poorer their self-directed executive function.

Researchers said 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 findings were recently published online in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.