The relationship between physical fitness and academic performance among Chinese college students

Abstract

Objective

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between physical fitness and academic performance, after controlling for potential confounds.

Participants

The sample comprised 2,324 college students representing three Chinese universities.

Methods

Physical fitness was measured using the Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard; academic performance (ie, Grade Point Average) and lifestyle behaviors were assessed using questionnaires. Academic performance and overall physical fitness were used to divide participants into three categories: low, moderate, and high.

Results

Several physical fitness indicators systematically differed across the three academic performance categories. Additionally, overall physical fitness was positively associated with academic performance, even after controlling for the effects of lifestyle behaviors; those who belonged to the high overall physical fitness group had lower odds ratios of low academic performance than those belonging to the low overall physical fitness group.

Conclusions

Poor academic performance was related to low overall physical fitness . The probability of having poor academic performance was significantly lower among students with high physical fitness than those with low physical fitness.

Keywords:

• academic performance
• Chinese college students
• lifestyle behaviors
• physical fitness

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all students participating in this study. Special thank all fieldworkers for their contribution in data collection.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of China and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to protect the students’ privacy, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work presented in this study was supported in part by the National Social Science Foundation of China (16CTY012).