Indirect and direct relations between aerobic fitness, physical activity, and academic achievement in elementary school students

Abstract

BACKGROUND There is evidence to suggest that increasing physical activity (PA) improves academic achievement (AA) in children and that aerobic fitness is associated with both cognitive function and AA. However, it is not known how these variables are interrelated and analyses with adequate control for socioeconomic variables are needed. It was hypothesized that PA would not directly affect AA but would have an indirect effect on AA through its effect on aerobic fitness. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesized mediation using path analysis. METHODS Cross-sectional data including AA, aerobic fitness, and daily PA assessed through accelerometry were collected from a large sample (N = 687) of 2nd and 3rd grade students. Demographic data were assessed via parent self-report. RESULTS A total of 401 students wore the accelerometer for at least 10 hours on 3 days or more and were included in the final path analysis to evaluate potential relations among PA (predictor), aerobic fitness (mediator), and WIAT-III subtest standard scores (outcomes; i.e., reading, spelling, and mathematics). Findings showed a direct effect of PA on aerobic fitness (b = 0.009, p < 0.001) and an indirect effect (mediation) of PA via fitness on math achievement (b = 0.003, p < 0.01) after controlling for student’s grade, gender, body mass index, mother’s education level, and household income, as well as intraclass correlations among classes and schools. Neither PA nor aerobic fitness were correlated with WIAT-III reading or spelling scores. CONCLUSIONS Mediation analysis indicated that PA exerted an influence on math achievement through its effects on aerobic fitness but was not associated with reading or spelling achievement scores.

Systematic review of the relationships between objectively measured physical activity and health indicators in school-aged children and youth

“…None Aerobic fitness: VERY LOW i 1 study reported no effect of PA intervention on aerobic fitness (Rowland et al 1996); 1 study reported a favourable effect of PA intervention for INT compared with CTRL (Dimitriou et al 2011); and 1 study reported no differential effect of PA intervention on aerobic fitness between INT and CTRL, however, the intervention group decreased from baseline to post-test (Shore et al 2014) Muscular strength and endurance: 1 study reported a favourable effect of PA intervention on upper-body strength for INT compared with CTRL (Dimitriou et al 2011); and 1 study reported no differential effect of PA intervention on muscular fitness; however, the control group improved upper body strength from baseline to post-test (Shore et al 2014) Flexibility: 1 study reported a favourable differential effect of PA intervention for INT compared with CTRL (Dimitriou et al 2011) 1 study reported no differential effect of a PA intervention on flexibility, and an increase from baseline to post-test for the intervention group (Shore et al 2014 Butte et al 2007b;Hands et al 2009;Schofield et al 2009;Ruiz et al 2011;Machado-Rodrigues et al 2012;Martinez-Gomez et al 2012;Hjorth et al 2013;Lambourne et al 2013;Hansen et al 2014;Larouche et al 2014;Saavedra et al 2014) or mixed (favourable and null; 4/18 studies; Rizzo et al 2007;Dencker et al 2010;Kristensen et al 2010;Jimenez-Pavon et al 2013c) o VPA: associations were favourable (11/12 studies; Gutin et al 2005a;Ruiz et al 2006;Butte et al 2007b;Rizzo et al 2007;Lohman et al 2008;Martinez-Gomez et al 2010aKristensen et al 2010;Ottevaere et al 2011;Hay et al 2012;…”

“…Poitras et al n Includes 28 cross-sectional studies (Eiberg et al 2005;Gutin et al 2005a;Andersen et al 2006;Ruiz et al 2006Ruiz et al , 2011Butte et al 2007b;Rizzo et al 2007;Lohman et al 2008;Ortega et al 2008;Hands et al 2009;Schofield et al 2009;Dencker et al 2010;Kristensen et al 2010;Martinez-Gomez et al 2010a;Moliner-Urdiales et al 2010;Ottevaere et al 2011;Hay et al 2012;Machado-Rodrigues et al 2012;Hjorth et al 2013;Jimenez-Pavon et al 2013c;Lambourne et al 2013;Silva et al 2013;Larouche et al 2014;Hansen et al 2014;Santos et al 2014;Saavedra et al 2014;Aggio et al 2015) from 17 unique samples. Five studies reported data from the EYHS (Andersen et al 2006, Ruiz et al 2006Ortega et al 2008;Rizzo et al 2008;Kristensen et al 2010); 6 studies reported data from HELENA (Martinez-Gomez et al 2010a;Moliner-Urdiales et al 2010;Ottevaere et al 2011;Ruiz et al 2011;Martinez-Gomez et al 2012;Jimenez-Pavon et al 2013c); 2 studies reported data from the CoSCIS study (Eiberg et al 2005;Dencker et al 2010).…”

“…i Includes 6 cross-sectional studies (Booth et al 2013(Booth et al , 2014Lambourne et al 2013;Esteban-Cornejo et al 2014;Hansen et al 2014;Young et al 2014) from 5 unique samples. Two studies reported data from the ALSPAC sample (Booth et al 2013(Booth et al , 2014; results are reported separately and participants are only counted once.…”

“…Valid PA data missing for 41.5% of the sample (Hansen et al 2014). Validity and reliability of outcomes unknown (Booth et al 2013(Booth et al , 2014Esteban-Cornejo et al 2014;Young et al 2014 (Young et al 2014)), 2 studies found no associations (between total PA and WIAT-III (Lambourne et al 2013;Hansen et al 2014)), and 2 studies found no or favourable associations (between PA (total, %MVPA) and executive function tests (Booth et al 2013); and between %MVPA and national English, Math, and Science test scores (Booth et al 2014)). …”

Effects of Integrated Physical Exercises and Gestures on Preschool Children’s Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning

“…Focusing on the synergistic effects of physical activity and academic performance (Lees & Hopkins, 2013), physical activity programs incorporating short bouts of acute exercise could be effectively applied during daily school schedules to promote physical activity and enhance cognitive performance in children (Drollette et al, 2014). The role of school-based physical activity programs in increasing physical activity during the school day either through recess or breaks or by integrating physical activity with academic content has been investigated in several studies (Bartholomew & Jowers, 2011;Castelli, Hillman, Hirsch, Hirsch, & Drollette, 2011;Davis et al, 2011;Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011;Hillman et al, 2009, Kibbe et al, 2011Lambourne et al, 2013;Mahar et al, 2006;Telford et al, 2012;Vazou & Smiley-Oyen, 2014). In general, these studies report positive associations between physical activity and learning outcomes in elementary and high school children (Erwin, Fedewa, Beighle, & Ahn, 2012).…”