Sex-specific associations of muscular fitness with overall academic performance and specific school subjects in adolescents: the EHDLA study

TL;DR

This study finds that higher muscular fitness in adolescents is linked to better academic performance, especially in physical education, with stronger effects in girls.

Contribution

The study reveals sex-specific associations between muscular fitness and academic performance, including specific school subjects.

Findings

Higher muscular fitness is associated with better academic results in both boys and girls.

The strongest association is observed in physical education, with significant differences only in girls.

Muscular fitness contributes to cognitive development across various school subjects.

Abstract

Overalll, muscular fitness and academic performance are two variables widely studied in the literature. However, evidence on the relationship between muscular fitness and specific school subjects (e.g., physical education), as well as their differences by sex, is scarce.

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between muscular fitness and overall academic performance and between muscular fitness and specific subjects (i.e., language, math, foreign language, and physical education) in a sample of secondary Spanish school students.

For the present study, a sample of 766 students (45% boys, aged 12-17 years). From the Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities (EHDLA) study was used. The Assessing the Levels of Physical Activity and Fitness (ALPHA-FIT) battery was used to determine handgrip strength and lower body muscular strength. The performance of the different school subjects was provided by the school centers.

Overall, for both boys and girls, higher muscular fitness was associated with greater academic results, with the greatest differences in physical education. However, only significant differences were identified for girls.

Global muscular fitness is important for contributing to cognitive development, both in physical education and in the rest of the subjects of the educational curriculum for adolescents. At the same time, although the association appears to follow the same trend for both sexes, the results seem more evident for girls.

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