Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb;17(2):e12850.
doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12850. Epub 2021 Sep 8.

Academic performance and psychosocial functioning in European schoolchildren: The role of cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status

Pedro L Valenzuela  1 , Tania Pinto-Escalona  2 , Alejandro Lucia  1   3 , Óscar Martínez-de-Quel  2
Affiliations

Academic performance and psychosocial functioning in European schoolchildren: The role of cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status

Pedro L Valenzuela et al. Pediatr Obes. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Whether a high cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) can attenuate the potential detrimental effect of childhood obesity on academic performance and particularly psychosocial functioning remains unclear.

Objectives: To analyse the academic performance/psychosocial functioning of schoolchildren attending to their CRF and weight status.

Methods: 470 schoolchildren (46% girls, 7 ± 0 years) from 20 schools in five European countries were categorized as (i) having overweight/obesity (n = 113) or normal weight (n = 357) attending to body mass index and (ii) 'fit' (n = 282) or 'unfit' (n = 188) based on 20-meter shuttle-run performance (CRF ≥ or <42 ml·kg-1 ·min-1 [boys] and 35 ml·kg-1 ·min-1 [girls], respectively). Academic performance and psychosocial functioning were assessed using the grades attained in school subjects and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for parents, respectively.

Results: Independent of their weight status, fit children showed a greater academic performance and psychosocial functioning than their peers who were unfit and overweight/obese. In fit children, academic performance and psychosocial functioning did not differ between the two weight status categories (normal weight or overweight/obesity).

Conclusions: Children with a higher CRF show a greater performance achievement and psychosocial functioning regardless of their weight status, thereby supporting the 'fat but fit' paradox and reinforcing the importance of improving CRF in this population.

Keywords: academic achievement; cognitive performance; obesity; overweight; physical fitness; psychosocial problems.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bentham J, Di Cesare M, Bilano V, et al. Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults. Lancet. 2017;390(10113):2627-2642. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32129-3
    1. Santana CCA, Hill JO, Azevedo LB, Gunnarsdottir T, Prado WL. The association between obesity and academic performance in youth: a systematic review. Obes Rev. 2017;18(10):1191-1199. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12582
    1. Ramaswamy R, Mirochna M, Perlmuter LC. The negative association of BMI with classroom effort in elementary school children. J Child Health Care. 2010;14(2):161-169.
    1. Robinson E, Daly M, Sutin A. Association of parental identification of child overweight and mental health problems during childhood. Int J Obes. 2020;44(9):1928-1935. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-0587-6
    1. Griffiths LJ, Dezateux C, Hill A. Is obesity associated with emotional and behavioural problems in children? Findings from the millennium cohort study. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2011;6(2-2):423-432. https://doi.org/10.3109/17477166.2010.526221

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources