Cross-sectional and longitudinal association of academic achievement and physical fitness in school children

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24650379
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sports science
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University of Education
• Principal Investigator: SAGAWA Masato 北海道教育大学, 教育学部, 教授 (10196115)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MORITA Noriteru 北海道教育大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (10382540) ; YAMATSU Koji 佐賀大学, 文化教育学部, 准教授 (90299579) ; NAKAJIMA Toshihiro 北海道科学大学, 未来デザイン学部, 准教授 (10611535)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 学力 / 体力 / 小児 / 評定 / 学業成績 / 運動習慣

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to investigate influences of physical fitness, obesity status and exercise behaviors on academic achievements in Japanese junior high school students. We observed positive correlation between physical fitness and academic achievement in 1st year junior high school students, even after controlling for socioeconomic status and gender. Obesity students defined by body mass index over 25 showed poor academic achievement. Moreover, male students who had less than 2 times/week of exercise frequency demonstrated lower academic achievement than male students who had over 3 times/week of exercise. There was no difference of academic achievement between exercise frequency categories in female students.
These results suggest that physical fitness had positive influences and obesity had negative influences on academic achievements in Japanese junior high school students. Moreover, daily exercise may improve poor academic achievement, especially in male students.

Free Research Field

スポーツ心理学