Associations between Physical Activity and Academic Competence: A Cross-Sectional Study among Slovenian Primary School Students.

Joca Zurc,Jurij Planinšec

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020623

Abstract

Physical activity has beneficial effects on overall academic performance in children. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding how the individual characteristics of physical activity interact with other confounding variables of academic competence. Leisure-time physical activity with potential confounders—such as developmental, behavioral, family, and school factors, predicting overall, mathematical, and reading academic competence—was studied in a random sample of 1520 Slovenian primary school students in grades 4–6 (51.9% female; mean age = 10.4 years; SD = 0.93). A structured self-reported questionnaire was used to gather data on the children’s leisure-time physical activity and social-demographic variables, while academic competence was measured by teachers using the SSRS Academic Competence Evaluation Scale. The findings showed that children engage in physical activity most days a week, with moderate-intensity and unorganized activities. It was predicted that engaging in physical activity would lead to an increase in academic performance by 4.2% in males (p = 0.002) and 3.2% in females (p = 0.024), but after fully adjusting the model for controlling confounding variables, the prediction increased to 81.1% in females and 84.1% in males (p < 0.001). The frequency and intensity of physical activity, the absence of digital games, and attending sports clubs seem to have the most beneficial effects in terms of academic competence in school children, among other relevant confounders mediating in this complex relationship.

Highlights

Physical activity (PA) is a crucial factor in children’s development and health
Given the need to clarify the nature of the associations between PA and children’s academic performance, we aimed to determine in this study: (1) how leisure-time PA interacts with other potential confounding variables, such as developmental, family, and school contextual factors; (2) which individual characteristics of leisure-time PA play a critical role in predicting children’s academic performance; and (3) whether there are any differences in the relationships between different academic competencies, such as overall academic competence, mathematical competence, and reading competence, and between females and males
The survey results of Slovenian primary school children in grades 4–6 are presented in three sections: (1) characteristics of the study participants, (2) academic competence of the participants, and (3) associations between PA and academic competence in the studied group

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) is a crucial factor in children’s development and health. Performing 60 min of regular moderate-to-vigorous PA ever day throughout the week, including vigorous aerobic activity and strength exercises for muscles and bones at least 3 days per week, improves physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, bone health, and mental health in children [1,2]. PA has a long-term positive impact on cognitive functioning and academic performance, which is evident in children [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. When children spend more time on physical activities, it can lead to higher grade point averages and more efficient curriculum implementation, even if the time spent on other school subjects or the free time spent on learning academic material is reduced [6,9,17]. PA is a potent stimulator of molecular and cellular components that underlie brain structure and function and, in

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Conclusion