Linear/Nonlinear Relations of Activity and Fitness with Children’s Academic Achievement

Abstract

A growing research base suggests the benefits of physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness for children extend beyond overall health/well-being to include academic achievement (AA). The majority of research studies on relations of PA and fitness with AA have utilized linear-only analytic approaches, thereby precluding the possibility that PA and fitness could have a differing impact on AA for those more/less active or fit. Objective Evaluate both linear and non-linear associations of PA and aerobic fitness with children’s AA among a sample of 687 2nd and 3rd grade students from 17 Midwest schools. Study Design Using baseline data (fall 2011) from a larger 3-year intervention trial, multi-level regression analyses examined the linear and non-linear associations of AA with PA and with PACER laps (i.e., aerobic fitness), controlling for relevant covariates. Results Fitness, but not PA, had a significant quadratic association with both spelling and math achievement. Results indicate that 22–28 laps on the PACER was the point at which the associated increase in achievement per lap plateaued for spelling and math. Conclusions Increasing fitness could potentially have the greatest impact on children’s AA for those below the 50th fitness percentile on the PACER.

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)). …”

“…Among studies that examined total PA, 2/2 studies reported null associations with academic achievement (Lambourne et al 2013;Hansen et al 2014). VPA was unfavourably associated with school grades and grade point average (GPA) in 1/1 studies (Esteban-Cornejo et al 2014).…”