Examining the Influence of Physical Fitness Growth Trajectories on Academic Achievement across the Transition to Adolescence

• In Event: 2-186 - Supporting the Whole Student: Multiple Pathways to Academic Achievement

Integrative Statement

Physical fitness - the ability to carry out physical activity without undue fatigue - is an important marker of physical and cognitive health (Hillman, Erickson, & Kramer, 2008). Although previous work suggests fitness is associated with increased mathematics and reading achievement (Rasberry et al., 2011), it typically declines across adolescence – a formative period for academic motivation and school engagement (Sallis, 2000). However, to date, little work has investigated how the trajectory of physical fitness impacts academic achievement in adolescence. Using a large, diverse sample of urban public-school students, the current study employed latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM) to examine longitudinal patterns of physical fitness from 4th to 8th grade and explored how distinct physical fitness trajectories predicted Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) standardized state test scores in 8th grade.

Data from this study was obtained from the New York City Department of Education. All youth in enrolled in fourth grade during the 2012-2013 school year were included in this study and subsequently assessed yearly through 8th grade. Fitness was measured with a yearly indicator of aerobic capacity – the ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to the muscles – from the state-mandated Fitnessgram assessment (Welk & Meredith, 2008). Academic achievement was conceptualized as test performance on the New York State standardized Mathematics and ELA assessment in 8th grade. Sex, race/ethnicity, and economic disadvantage (as measured by free/reduced lunch status) were included in these analyses as covariates.

The final analytic sample included 61,669 youth (51.3% male; Table 1). LGMM was employed to group youth according to longitudinal aerobic capacity patterns. Fit indices suggested that a four-class model provided the best fit to the data. The four distinct classes (see Figure 1) were characterized as: persistently fit (3.8%), persistently unfit (61.7%), increasing fitness (16.3%), and decreasing fitness (18.2%; Figure 1). Class membership was regressed onto Mathematics and ELA test scores, controlling for gender, race/ethnicity and economic disadvantage (Table 1). Belonging to the persistently fit class predicted significantly higher 8th grade test scores (M_math = 321.85; M_ELA = 333.21) compared to other classes. Belonging to the increasing fitness class (M_math = 302.79; M_ELA = 317.43) predicted significantly higher 8th grade test scores in comparison to being in the persistently unfit or the decreasing fitness class. Finally, being in either the persistently unfit class or the decreasing fitness class predicted significantly worse Mathematics (M = 291.37 – 296.20) and ELA (M = 307.65 – 310.47) scores in comparison to other classes.

Fitness positively predicted academic achievement. However, this study suggests that remaining physically fit is not the only path to academic success. Those who improved their fitness levels later in adolescence showed similarly high ELA and Mathematics scores. Further, physical fitness in childhood (grade 4) did not alone account for achievement scores in 8th grade; the trajectory of fitness was an equally important indicator of academic achievement. Future work in this area will include an examination of demographic characteristics on class membership and use an accelerated cohort design to include more years of data.

Authors

• Natasha Chaku, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Katie Brohawn, ExpandED Schools
  Non-Presenting Author