IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0182845.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disentangling the relationship between children’s motor ability, executive function and academic achievement

Author

Listed:
  • Mirko Schmidt
  • Fabienne Egger
  • Valentin Benzing
  • Katja Jäger
  • Achim Conzelmann
  • Claudia M Roebers
  • Caterina Pesce

Abstract

Even though positive relations between children’s motor ability and their academic achievement are frequently reported, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Executive function has indeed been proposed, but hardly tested as a potential mediator. The aim of the present study was therefore to examine the mediating role of executive function in the relationship between motor ability and academic achievement, also investigating the individual contribution of specific motor abilities to the hypothesized mediated linkage to academic achievement. At intervals of ten weeks, 236 children aged between 10 and 12 years were tested in terms of their motor ability (t1: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, motor coordination), core executive functions (t2: updating, inhibition, shifting), and academic achievement (t3: mathematics, reading, spelling). Structural equation modelling revealed executive function to be a mediator in the relation between motor ability and academic achievement, represented by a significant indirect effect. In separate analyses, each of the three motor abilities were positively related to children’s academic achievement. However, only in the case of children’s motor coordination, the mediation by executive function accounted for a significance percentage of variance of academic achievement data. The results provide evidence in support of models that conceive executive function as a mechanism explaining the relationship that links children’s physical activity-related outcomes to academic achievement and strengthen the advocacy for quality physical activity not merely focused on health-related physical fitness outcomes, but also on motor skill development and learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Mirko Schmidt & Fabienne Egger & Valentin Benzing & Katja Jäger & Achim Conzelmann & Claudia M Roebers & Caterina Pesce, 2017. "Disentangling the relationship between children’s motor ability, executive function and academic achievement," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0182845
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182845
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182845
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182845&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0182845?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wittberg, R.A. & Northrup, K.L. & Cottrell, L.A., 2012. "Children's aerobic fitness and academic achievement: A longitudinal examination of students during their fifth and seventh grade years," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(12), pages 2303-2307.
    2. Brock Boudreau & Christiane Poulin, 2009. "An examination of the validity of the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) in a general adolescent population of Canada," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 29-42, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mia Papasideris & Scott T Leatherdale & Kate Battista & Peter A Hall, 2021. "An examination of the prospective association between physical activity and academic achievement in youth at the population level," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Sehrish Naveed & Timo Lakka & Eero A. Haapala, 2020. "An Overview on the Associations between Health Behaviors and Brain Health in Children and Adolescents with Special Reference to Diet Quality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Yu-Chen Lin, 2011. "Assessing the Use of the Family Affluence Scale as Socioeconomic Indicators for Researching Health Inequalities in Taiwan Adolescents," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(3), pages 463-475, July.
    4. Jong-Sik Ryu & Hae Ryong Chung & Benjamin M. Meador & Yongsuk Seo & Kyung-O Kim, 2021. "The Associations between Physical Fitness, Complex vs Simple Movement, and Academic Achievement in a Cohort of Fourth Graders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Sarita Silveira & Mariah Kornbluh & Mathew C. Withers & Gillian Grennan & Veerabhadran Ramanathan & Jyoti Mishra, 2021. "Chronic Mental Health Sequelae of Climate Change Extremes: A Case Study of the Deadliest Californian Wildfire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Torbjørn Torsheim & Franco Cavallo & Kate Ann Levin & Christina Schnohr & Joanna Mazur & Birgit Niclasen & Candace Currie, 2016. "Psychometric Validation of the Revised Family Affluence Scale: a Latent Variable Approach," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(3), pages 771-784, September.
    7. Martika Irene Brook & Tormod Bøe & Oddrun Samdal & Helga Bjørnøy Urke & Torill Marie Bogsnes Larsen & Torbjørn Torsheim, 2024. "Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Family Affluence Scale in Norwegian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Surveys: Implications for Time Trend Analysis," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(5), pages 2029-2046, October.
    8. Fernandes, Telmo & Vázquez, Inês & Gato, Jorge, 2024. "Diversity through adversity: Adjustment profiles and protective factors of sexual and gender minority students in Portuguese schools," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    9. Andrew T. Harveson & James C. Hannon & Timothy A. Brusseau & Leslie Podlog & Charilaos Papadopoulos & Morgan S. Hall & EvaRose Celeste, 2019. "Acute Exercise and Academic Achievement in Middle School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-7, September.
    10. Elgar, Frank J. & Xie, Annie & Pförtner, Timo-Kolja & White, James & Pickett, Kate E., 2016. "Relative deprivation and risk factors for obesity in Canadian adolescents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 111-118.
    11. Souhail Hermassi & Thomas Bartels & Lawrence D. Hayes & René Schwesig, 2022. "Fitness, Fatness, and Academic Attainment in Male Schoolchildren from a Soccer Academy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0182845. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.