Abstract
Whether cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and physical fitness affect academic performance in college first-year students is a concerning issue. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the relationship between academic performance and CRF and the components of physical fitness in college first-year students. A total of 98 college first-year students (female: 30, male: 68) participated in this study. The CRF was measured using a gas analyzer on a treadmill and physical fitness included body mass index, sit-up in one minute, standing long jump, sit-and-reach, 800 (female) and 1600-m (male) run/walk. The two assessments were scheduled by an interval of 7 - 10 days. The grade point average (GPA) in formal grade report was provided by each participant after the completion of the first academic year. The data were analyzed by an independent t-test and the relationships between variables were analyzed by Pearson product-moment correlation. The results displayed that males were significantly higher than females in CRF (p 0.05). For physical fitness, the BMI, sit-up in one minute, standing long jump were significantly higher in males than in females. However, females were significantly higher than males in the number of sit-and-reach (p 0.05). For academic performance, the GPA displayed similar between different genders. After regression analyses, the CRF was significantly related with academic performance and explained 56% of the variance for GPA in male college freshmen. However, neither CRF nor the components of physical fitness showed any significant relationship with academic performance in females. In conclusion, the CRF accounted for the variance of academic performance in male. However, a similar result was not found in the female part.
Highlights
Many college students face physiological, psychological and environmental challenges during the first year in college because of the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Dyson & Renk, 2006)
The results showed that the improvement in academic performance was associated with the elevation of physical fitness due to the intervention of exercise, in addition to a significant relationship between academic performance and physical fitness (Blom, Alvarez, Zhang, & Kolbo, 2011; De Greeff et al, 2014; Van Dusen, Kelder, Kohl, Ranjit, & Perry, 2011; Welk et al, 2010)
For other physical fitness components, male participants were significantly higher female participants in body mass index (BMI), bent-leg sit-up in one minute, standing long jump; female participants showed significantly higher than male participants in sit-and-reach
Summary
Many college students face physiological, psychological and environmental challenges during the first year in college because of the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Dyson & Renk, 2006). Of the changes in physiology and physique, the alteration in body weight should be alert. The study (Butler, Black, Blue, & Gretebeck, 2004) indicated that the changes in physical activity and food intake occurred during the period of the first year in college, a decrease in physical activity was the main factor for an increase in body weight. Physical inactivity or sedentary lifestyle is one of important contributors to lower cardiorespiratory fitness (Armstrong et al, 2006), which is associated with many diseases, such as hypertension, insulin resistance, and stroke (Healy, Matthews, Dunstan, Winkler, & Owen, 2011; Wilmot et al, 2012). The issues of cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity are important for college students
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