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Table 2 Cross-sectional studies examining the influence of sport, physical education or physical activity upon academic achievement.

From: Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance

Author

Sample

Milieu

Outcome measure

Response

Significant association

Nelson and Gordon-Larsen [20]

US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

USA

Grades

Risk ratio for higher results 1.20 for mathematics and 1.21 for English

Field et al. [21]

52 girls and 37 boys in suburban high school

USA

GPA

Higher GPA

Dwyer et al. [24]

7961 schoolchildren, aged 7–15 years in 109 schools

Australia

Rating by the school principal

school performance positively associated with PA in the preceding week

Pate et al. [25]

Youth Risk Behavior Survey adolescents

USA

Perception of academic performance

Inverse relation with level of PA.

Williams [26]

 

England

GPA

positive association between school sports participation and AA

Sigfudsdottir et al. [27]

 

Iceland

self-reported school performance

r = -0.11 with absenteeism and r = 0.09 with grades

Negative or null outcomes on AA

Tremblay et al. [28]

6,923 grade 6 children

New Brunswick (Canada)

GPA and self-esteem

Inverse relation PA and AA

Daley and Ryan [29]

232 boys and girls (13–16 years old)

England

self-reported PA and GPA

No relationship except for the duration of PA time vs. marks for English (r = -0.29 to -0.30)

Dollman et al. [30]

Primary school children grades 3, 5 and 7 in 117 schools

Australia

Reading and maths scores

No relation

Yu et al. [31]

333 Chinese pre-adolescents (aged 8–12)

Hong Kong, China

Examination results and conduct grades

No relation with AA but relation with self-esteem