Abstract
Little information exists on the mechanism of how physical activity interventions effects academic performance. We examined whether the effects of a school-based physical activity intervention on academic performance were mediated by aerobic fitness. The School in Motion study was a nine-month cluster randomized controlled trial between September 2017 and June 2018. Students from 30 Norwegian lower secondary schools (N = 2,084, mean age [SD] = 14 [0.3] years) were randomly assigned into three groups: the Physically Active Learning (PAL) intervention (n = 10), the Don’t Worry—Be Happy (DWBH) intervention (n = 10), or control (n = 10). Aerobic fitness was assessed by the Andersen test and academic performance by national tests in reading and numeracy. Mediation was assessed according to the causal steps approach using linear mixed models. In the PAL intervention, aerobic fitness partially mediated the intervention effect on numeracy by 28% from a total effect of 1.73 points (95% CI: 1.13 to 2.33) to a natural direct effect of 1.24 points (95% CI: 0.58 to 1.91), and fully mediated the intervention effect on reading, with the total effect of 0.89 points (95% CI: 0.15 to 1.62) reduced to the natural direct effect of 0.40 points (95% CI: −0.48 to 1.28). Aerobic fitness did not mediate the effects on academic performance in the DWBH intervention. As aerobic fitness mediated the intervention effect on academic performance in one intervention, physical activity of an intensity that increases aerobic fitness is one strategy to improve academic performance among adolescents.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness is associated with several health benefits in youths (Poitras et al, 2016; Raghuveer et al, 2020)
We examined whether the effects of a school-based physical activity intervention on academic performance were mediated by aerobic fitness
The results revealed that students in both intervention arms significantly improved academic performance in numeracy and reading compared to students in the control group (Solberg et al, 2021), and students in one of the intervention arm significantly improved accelerometer assessed PA levels and aerobic fitness compared with controls (Kolle et al, 2020)
Summary
Physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness is associated with several health benefits in youths (Poitras et al, 2016; Raghuveer et al, 2020). Accelerometer data shows that PA levels decline throughout adolescents (van Sluijs et al, 2021) and a recent systematic review re ported a decline in children and adolescents aerobic fitness over the past three decades (Tomkinson et al, 2019). Interventions aimed at increasing PA levels and aerobic fitness among adolescents are warranted. Numerous schoolbased PA interventions aimed at increasing children and adolescents PA and aerobic fitness have been developed (Hartwig et al, 2021; Love et al, 2019). Emerging evidence shows positive associations between PA, aerobic fitness and academic performance (Marques et al, 2018; Santana et al, 2017), making PA interventions relevant for schools, teachers and stakeholders.
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