The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on physical fitness and academic performance of Chinese college students

Abstract

Background

Our study aimed to examine the effects of COVID-19 on the physical fitness and academic performance of Chinese college students.

Participants

The sample included physical fitness test data from 9,712 undergraduate students and academic performance data from 12,000 undergraduate students at a top university in China.

Methods

Physical fitness was measured and evaluated according to the Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard. Data were analyzed using two-sample t-tests and Pearson product-moment correlations.

Results

Total physical fitness test scores of college students decreased after the outbreak, but their mean body mass index (BMI) remained at normal levels. The mean academic performance of college students unexpectedly improved during the online learning period. The positive correlation between physical test scores and academic performance was significantly higher during COVID-19 than that before the outbreak.

Conclusions

Chinese college students with high physical fitness during COVID-19 were more likely to achieve good academic performance.

Keywords:

• Academic performance
• Chinese college student
• COVID-19 outbreak impact
• Physical fitness

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 Nankai University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Tianjin philosophy and social science planning project (TJTY18-001).