The Relations between 3-year Changes in Physical Fitness and Academic Performance in Nationally Representative Sample of Junior High School Students

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to examine the relationship between different components of physical fitness across 3 years of junior high school with academic performance assessed at the end of the period. Two nationwide representative datasets were used. The first was the physical fitness profile assessed at the beginning of each of the three school years. The second contained the scores on a standardized test administered at the end of the third year. All data were standardized by calculating percentile rank (PR). Students were classified as “High-fit” if their fitness scores ≧ top 25% PR on the age- and sex-adjusted norms. All other students were classified as “not high-fit”. The relationships between fitness and exam performance were tested adjusting for sex, body mass index, and level of urbanization. Students who were in the high-fit group in both years 1 and 3 academically outperformed those who were outside this classification during both assessments. The degree of outperformance was greatest for those who were aerobically fit, followed by those who were high-fit in terms of muscular endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility, respectively. It is therefore concluded that the relationship between physical fitness and academic performance in Taiwanese junior high school students is strongest in the case of aerobic fitness.

Longitudinal relationship of favorable weight change to academic performance in children

“…In our study, although an interaction effect of baseline BMI and BMI changes on changes in academic performance over 2 years was noted, changes in BMI had no main effect on changes in academic performance over 2 years. These results could partly explain the weak or null association of BMI changes with academic performance in Asian children as previously reported 6,24 . Furthermore, a previous crosssectional study demonstrated an inverted U-shape relationship between BMI and academic performance in Japanese children 17 .…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that weight loss in children with overweight/ obesity and weight gain in children with underweight are associated with improvement in academic performance in Asian children. Recent longitudinal observational studies that targeted Asian children demonstrated a weak or null relationship between BMI and academic performance 6,24 . In our study, although an interaction effect of baseline BMI and BMI changes on changes in academic performance over 2 years was noted, changes in BMI had no main effect on changes in academic performance over 2 years.…”

“…More than 8,000,000 yen 28 (14) Maternal education (N (%)) 1420 (10) 15 to 30 min 11 (6) 12 (6) Almost no watching 9 (5) 6 (3) Step 1…”

“…The incidence of childhood overweight and obesity over the past three decades and the associated health problems are increasing worldwide, which in turn has become a public health concern among educators and policymakers [1][2][3][4] . Childhood overweight and obesity are associated with risk of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes 1,4 , lower academic performance, and poor brain health [5][6][7][8][9] . For example, higher body mass index (BMI) and fat mass are associated with lower academic performance and decreased ability to perform higher-order cognition among children [7][8][9] .…”

Differential effects of changes in cardiorespiratory fitness on worst- and best- school subjects

“…We specifically examined if improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness had differential effects on an individual’s worst and best GPs. We focused on cardiorespiratory fitness, which several studies have indicated was positively associated with academic performance 3 – 5 , 7 , 10 , 11 , although the exact changes in fitness components that most contribute to improving academic performance remain unclear. Moreover, we rigorously controlled for potentially significant confounding variables, including out-of-school learning time and SES, when examining the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and academic performance.…”