Table 2

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

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

Trudeau and Shephard International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008 5:10   doi:10.1186/1479-5868-5-10