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Scheduled Physical Activity is Associated With

Better Academic Performance in Chilean SchoolAge Children
ARTICLE in JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH APRIL 2014
Impact Factor: 1.95 DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2013-0125 Source: PubMed

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Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2014, 11, 1600-1606

http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2013-0125
2014 Human Kinetics, Inc.

Official Journal of ISPAH

www.JPAH-Journal.com
ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Scheduled Physical Activity is Associated With Better

Academic Performance in Chilean School-Age Children
Raquel Burrows, Paulina Correa-Burrows, Yasna Orellana,
Atilio Almagi, Pablo Lizana, and Daniza Ivanovic
Background: This study was carried out to examine the association between systematic physical activity and academic performance in school kids after controlling for potential sociodemographic and educational confounders. Methods: In a random
sample of 1271 students from urban Santiago, attending 5th and 9th grade, who took the 2009 System for the Assessment of
Educational Quality (SIMCE) tests, we measured physical activity habits, anthropometric characteristics, and socioeconomic
status. Academic performance was measured by the standardized SIMCE tests. Logistic regressions assessed the relationship
between the allocation of time to weekly scheduled exercise, potential confounding factors, and individual academic performance.
Results: About 80% of students reported less than 2 hours of weekly scheduled exercise, while 10.6% and 10.2% reported 2 to
4 hours/week and more than 4 hours/week, respectively. Devoting more than 4 hours/week to scheduled exercise significantly
increased (P < .01) the odds of having SIMCE composite z-scores 50th percentile (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.4 to 3.6) and 75th
percentile (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.33.3). Conclusions: Better academic performance was associated with a higher allocation of
time to scheduled exercise in school-age children.
Keywords: academic achievement, health-related behaviors, Chile
The positive effect of regular exercise on cardiovascular and
mental health has been widely demonstrated.13 Physical activity and
fitness are associated with lower cardiovascular and metabolic risk in
youth and mortality in adults.4,5 In addition, regular participation in
physical activity and sports is linked to better brain function, cognition and academic performance.6 Longitudinal follow-up studies and
interventions have found a direct and significant relation between
physical activity and academic outcomes. 79 The association
between physical activity and academic performance is complex. A
potential link between exercise and academic performance can be
explained by both physiological and psychological factors such as
increased blood and oxygen flow to the brain, reduction of stress,
improvement of mood, and increased synaptic plasticity.1012 Furthermore, education and socioeconomic factors could also explain
the positive association with academic outcomes.13,14
For the vast majority of children and adolescents, schools
provide a unique opportunity for regular and structured physical
activity. In spite of this, the constant pressure from parents -to
improve the academic performance of their children, and schools
-to improve their success rate in the standardized tests for the assessment of the educational quality, has resulted in more hours devoted

Burrows (rburrows@inta.uchile.cl) is with the Dept of Nutritional Epidemiology and Genetics, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (University
of Chile), Santiago, Chile. Correa-Burrows is with the Dept of Nutritional
Epidemiology and Genetics, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology,
University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, since late 2013. Orellana is with the
Dept of Statistics, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University
of Chile, Santiago, Chile. Almagi and Lizana are with the Laboratory of
Biology, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaso, Valparaso, Chile.
Ivanovic is with the Dept of Human Nutrition, Institute of Nutrition and
Food Technology (University of Chile), Santiago, Chile.
1600

to Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences at expense

of the time devoted to physical education.
In general, it has been difficult to approach the relationship
between physical activity and performance at school. This is largely
due to the lack of standardized indicators to measure the quality
of both individual academic performance and physical activity or
fitness condition.79 Few studies have used standardized tests to
approach the academic achievement in large urban school populations.15,16
The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between
systematic physical activity and academic performance in schoolage children measured through the national standardized SIMCE
(System for the Assessment of Educational Quality), after controlling for potential sociodemographic and educational confounders.

Methods
Study Population and Sample Selection
The target population, 187,860 children (39% of Chilean school
population), included all school-age children enrolled in 5th (N
= 91,663) and 9th (N = 96,197) grade in the Chiles Metropolitan
Region (MR) in 2010 and who took the SIMCE test at the end of
the year 2009. They attended public, partially-subsidized and private
schools from urban areas.
The sampling frame of this study corresponds to the educational
establishments from the urban area of MR. The sampling system
was performed in 2 stages. In the first stage, 33 educational establishments accounting for 2.61% of the total urban school population (N = 1262) were randomly selected by proportional allocation
according to the stratification by type of school and the levels of
achievement in the SIMCE 2009 established by the Ministry of
Education (high, intermediate and low). In a second stage, in each
of the 33 schools all students enrolled in both grades and taking

Scheduled Exercise and Academic Outcomes 1601

the SIMCE 2009 were invited to participate in the study. A total

of 1353 school-age children and their parents agreed to participate
in the study and they signed the informed consent form. Eightytwo individuals were excluded because they did not provide full
information on their physical activity habits, thus, the final sample
included 1271 students, 94% of the original data set.
This study was approved by the Committee on Ethics in Studies in Humans of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology
(INTA), University of Chile and ratified by the Committee on
Bioethics of the National Fund for Scientific and Technologic
Development (FONDECYT), Chile. Subjects consent was obtained
according to the norms for Human Experimentation, Code of Ethics
of the World Medical Association. The field study was carried out
during 2010.

SIMCE Tests
Academic performance (AP) was assessed through the SIMCE
test, which has national coverage in Chile and is administered by
the Ministry of Education. The aim of this testing is to improve the
quality and equality of the educational process in the different areas
covered by the national curriculum. Scores range between 0 and
400.17 To carry out this analysis, we transformed the test raw values
into z-scores, and then we estimated a composite z-score, including
Language, Mathematics and Science results, and taking out Social
Science as this one only tests mid school students.

Anthropometric Measurements
Standardized procedures were used to measure weight to the closest
0.1 Kg, using a Seca scale, and height to the closest 0.1 cm, using
a Holtain stadiometer. All the instruments were verified before
measuring each subject.18 BMI (Kg/m2) and Height for age were
evaluated and z-scores were obtained according to CDC/NCH/USA
references.19 Nutritional status was defined as follows: Underweight
(z-score < 1 SD), Normal weight (z-score from 1 SD to 1 SD),
Overweight (z-score from +1 SD to < 2 SD) and Obesity (z-score
2 SD).

Scheduled Exercise
Scheduled exercise was measured accounting for the number of
weekly hours devoted to (1) school-based physical education and
(2) sport extracurricular activities that occur outside of the regular
school day, either school or nonschool organized. That is, our
research focused on regularly scheduled physical activity.
To measure scheduled exercise, we used a questionnaire which
was validated using accelerometry-based activity monitors.20 This
questionnaire was administered by a researcher to all students at the
time they attended the anthropometric examination. Ninth graders
answered by themselves, whereas 5th graders answered with their
parents help. In spite of this, the questions and response categories
were identical in both groups.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

SES was measured using a scale based on Graffars modified
method which was adapted to Chilean urban and rural populations.21 This scale classified the sample into 5 socioeconomic
groups: 1 = High (0.3%); 2 = Mid-High (14.7%); 3 = Middle
(38.3%); 4 = Mid-Low (45.6%); and 5 = Low (1.1%). However,
in our analysis we merged these 5 categories into 3: High (1+2),
Medium (3), Low (4+5) SES.

School Performance
School performance was measure using the criteria of the Chilean
Ministry of Education. Schools are divided into 3 groups (good
academic standing, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory) according to the
overall performance achieved by their students in the SIMCE tests.17

Statistical Analysis
Data were processed using Stata for Windows 10.1 (Lakeway Drive
College Station, TX, US). Statistical analysis included Chi2 for
categorical variables, and variance analysis and Bonferroni test for
comparison of means. Logistic regressions were used to assess the
relationship between the allocation of time to scheduled exercise
(exposure) and individual academic performance (outcome).
Two models were considered, using SIMCE composite z-score
50th percentile and 75th percentile as dependent variables,
respectively. In both models, the primary explanatory variable was
the allocation of weekly hours to scheduled exercise. Models were
adjusted for potential confounders, including sex, because male
students traditionally show better performance in the standardized
tests administered in Chile; SES, because income level and parents educational and occupational status are closely linked to the
students academic outcomes;13,14 and school performance, because
the school sets important parameters of the students learning experience (eg, preparation of teachers or availability of resources),22,23
and because strong differentials in the quality of education exist
between Chilean schools with different administrative structures.
Variable selection for the logistic regression models was also guided
by the bivariate analyses. A P-value of < 0.05 denoted statistical
significance.

Results
In our sample, 79.2% of students reported less than 2 hours of
weekly scheduled exercise, while 10.6% and 10.2% reported 2
to 4 hours and more than 4 hours of weekly scheduled exercise,
respectively. Table 1 contains the descriptive statistics of the sample.
Mean values of chronological age, performance in Language,
Mathematics and Science tests, and composite performance in the
3 tests significantly increase at higher allocation of time to weekly
scheduled exercise (P < .000). The proportion of physically active
subjects was significantly higher among males (14%), 9th graders
(18%), students attending schools with good academic standing
(15.4%), and high-SES students (16%).
The proportion of school-age children above selected thresholds
of academic performance in the SIMCE (composite Language,
Mathematics and Science) significantly increased (P < .001) at
higher allocation of time to weekly scheduled exercise, as shown
in Figure 1.
Table 2 provides the results of the bivariate analysis which
was used to identify explanatory variables of individual academic
achievement. There was a significant association between performance thresholds in the SIMCE and sex (P < .01), socioeconomic
level, school performance, and allocation of time to weekly scheduled exercise (P < .001). No significant differences were found for
nutritional status and grade over the control groups.
Table 3 shows the results of logistic regressions modeling the
association between individual academic performance and scheduled exercise in school-age children, after controlling for sex, SES
and school performance in the SIMCE. Devoting more than 4 hours/
week to scheduled exercise significantly increased (P < .01) the odds

Table 1 General Characteristics of the Sample by Allocation of Time to Weekly Scheduled Exercise (n = 1271)
< 2 h (A) (n = 1007)

24 h (B) (n = 134)

> 4 h (C) (n = 130)

P-valuec

Bonferroni
adjustment

12.9 2.3***BC

14.7 1.9

15.3 1.5

0.000

ABB

Sex
Male
Female

500 (75.1)
507 (83.8)

75 (11.3)
59 (9.8)

91 (13.7)
39 (6.5)

0.000d

Anthropometrics
BMI (z-score)
Height (z-score)

0.97 1.1
0.02 1.0

0.92 1.0
0.13 0.9

0.76 1.0
0.13 0.9

0.080
0.153

0.16 0.9**B***C
0.13 1.0***BC
0.19 1.0**B***C
0.17 1.0**B***C

0.16 1.0
0.12 1.0
0.15 1.0
0.20 1.1

0.41 0.8
0.40 0.9
0.42 0.9
0.29 0.9

0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000

Socioeconomic status
High
Middle
Low

133 (69.3)
373 (77.4)
509 (83.9)

29 (15.1)
52 (10.8)
53 (8.9)

30 (15.6)
57 (11.8)
43 (7.2)

0.000d

Grade
5th
9th

598 (91.8)
409 (66.0)

35 (5.4)
99 (16.0)

18 (2.8)
112 (18.0)

0.000d

School performance
Good
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory

421 (72.2)
318 (83.5)
268 (87.3)

72 (12.4)
32 (8.4)
30 (9.8)

90 (15.4)
31 (8.1)
9 (2.9)

0.000 d

Age
Mean age

Academic performance
SIMCE (z-score)
Language (z-score)
Mathematics (z-score)
Science (z-score)

ABC
ABB
ABC
ABC

Mean SD.
(%).
c One-way ANOVA test, except as indicated.
d Chi2 (Pearson).
a

b Number

Figure 1 Percentage of students above performance thresholds in the National System for the Assessment of Educational Quality 2009 (combined
Language, Mathematics and Science) by allocation of time to weekly scheduled exercise.
1602

Scheduled Exercise and Academic Outcomes 1603

Table 2 Association Between Performance Thresholds in the National System for the
Assessment of Educational Quality 2009 (Combined Language, Mathematics, and Science)
and Sociodemographic and Health Characteristics
SIMCE z-score 50th percentile

SIMCE z-score 75th percentile

Overall

753

59.0

265

24.9

Sex
Male
Female

419
334

62.9
54.7

163
102

29.3
20.1
P = .001

P = .003a
Grade
5th grade
9th grade

373
380

51.1
60.9

141
124

P = .170
Nutritional statusb
Underweight
Normal
Overweight
Obesity

10
448
176
119

P = .643
58.8
62.0
55.2
54.6

3
166
58
38

P = .097
Socioeconomic level
High
Middle
Low

147
309
297

76.2
63.7
49.6

452
184
117

80
115
70

77.0
48.2
38.0

104
95
550

206
47
12

39.9
15.3
5.0
P < .001

80.0
70.9
54.6
P < .001

47.9
27.1
14.8
P < .001

P < .001
Scheduled exercise
>4 hours/week
24 hours/week
<2 hours/week

23.1
27.4
21.9
21.1
P = .195

P < .001
School performance
Good
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory

25.5
24.3

49
35
181

49.5
32.7
21.2
P < .001

Abbreviations: SIMCE, System for the Assessment of Educational Quality.

a Statistically significant difference according to Chi2 Pearson.
b Nutritional status defined as follows: Underweight (z-score < 1 SD), Normal weight (z-score from 1 SD to 1 SD), Overweight (z-score from +1
SD to < 2 SD) and Obesity (z-score 2 SD).

of having SIMCE composite z-scores 50th percentile (OR: 2.3

95% CI: 1.43.6) and 75th percentile (OR: 2.1 95% CI: 1.33.3).
Allocating 2 to 4 hours/week to scheduled exercise only increase
the odds of having a SIMCE composite z-score 50th percentile
(OR: 1.8 95% CI: 1.22.8).

Discussion
Main Conclusions
The results of this study confirm the direct and significant association between regular exercise and academic outcomes achieved by
school-age students. Those reporting less than 2 hours of weekly

scheduled exercise had significantly lower performance in Language, Mathematics and Science, than those reporting more than 4
hours. Similarly, students allocating more than 4 hours to weekly
scheduled exercise were 2.1 times more likely to fall into the group
with the highest academic performance (composite z-score 75th
percentile).
It is also important to recognize the influence of sex, socioeconomic factors as well as the availability of resources and facilities.13,14,2426 Academic performance measured by SIMCE and PSU
(University Selection Test, a standardized test for college admission)
has been traditionally higher in males and among students attending
private schools.17,27 In our sample, 29% of male fell into the group
with composite z-score 75th percentile in comparison with 20%

1604Burrows et al

Table 3 Relationship Between Individual Academic Performance and Scheduled Exercise in

School-Age Children, After Controlling for Gender, Socioeconomic Status (SES), and Type of
School According to Achievement Level in the National System for the Assessment of Educational
Quality 2009
SIMCE z-score 50th percentile

SIMCE z-score 75th percentile

OR [95% CI]

OR [95% CI]

> 4 hours/week

2.27 [1.413.64]**

2.09 [1.313.31]**

24 hours/week

1.82 [1.202.77]**

1.39 [0.862.24]

Male

1.24 [0.971.59]

1.51 [1.102.06]*

High SES

1.43 [0.942.17]

2.48 [1.593.86]***

Mid SES
Good performance (school)
Satisfactory performance (school)
Observations
Likelihood ratio

(Chi2)

Hosmer-Lemeshow
Correctly classified (%)

1.08 [0.821.42]

1.21 [0.831.75]

4.59 [3.306.38]***

8.97 [4.7816.8]***

1.44 [1.061.97]*

3.37 [1.746.53]***

1271

1271

187.86***

180.17***

6.88 P = .549

9.94 P = .270

67.3

76.7

Abbreviations: SIMCE, System for the Assessment of Educational Quality; OR 95% CI, Odd Ratio 95% Confidence Interval.
* P < .05; ** P < .01; *** P < .001.

of females (P < .01). Likewise, 48% of High SES student fell into
that group compared with 15% of low SES students (P < .001). In
our models, when controlling for sex and socioeconomic status, the
effect of scheduled exercise remained significant.
Our findings are consistent with the results obtained by previous studies examining the link between academic outcomes and
regular physical activity.79 Among American students aged 11
to 18 (n = 4,746), it was observed a positive association between
physical activity involvement and academic achievement. In girls,
both, allocation of time to weekly moderate- to vigorous- intensity
physical activity and participation on sport teams were significantly
associated with higher academic performance, but in males only
the participation on sport teams was independently associated.
In that sample, less than 25% of the students reported less than
2.5 hours/week of scheduled exercise.28 Other study performed
in 3rd to 11th grade students from Texas (n = 254,000), fitness
measured by 6 independent test was strongly related to academic
performance measured by standardized academic test (TAKS).16
Likewise, in 9th grade students from Sweden (n = 232; 16 0.4
years old), academic achievement was associated with vigorous
activity in girls but association with fitness was insignificant. In
boys, only fitness was significantly associated while association
with intensity of physical activity was insignificant.29 Finally, in
a cross-sectional study involving 2127 children attending 4th to
8th grade from northeastern US, fitness achievement measured by
5 independent tests was significantly and positively associated to
the results obtained in Mathematics and English standardized tests,
after controlling for nutritional status, ethnicity, gender, grade and
socioeconomic status.15
Some studies suggest that a certain threshold of intensity or
a minimum weekly exercise time are required to produce positive
effects on academic performance.28,30 Others conclude that academic
achievement is positively linked to cardiovascular fitness, suggesting
that fitness may mediate the association between physical activity
and cognitive performance.16,29,31 Several research studies stress
the need for a better understanding of the explanatory mechanisms
involved in these relations as well as the need to assess the dose-

response relation between physical activity and academic performance. However, we should keep in mind that the main goals of
promoting physical activity are to improve the populations health
and to prevent and control chronic diseases. Improving academic
outcomes might be considered a positive external effect. On the
other hand, interpretations of dose-response relationships would
be extremely complex because of the variety of factors affecting
individuals academic performance.
In Chile, the compulsory time devoted to physical exercise in
both Elementary and High schools is 1.5 hours/week. In 20022004,
60% of public schools students had less than 2 hours/week of regular exercise, while 70% of private schools students had more than
3 hours/week, according to the results obtained from a sample of
1700 school-age children from urban Santiago attending 8th and
9th grade.32 In the overall sample, 52% of students devoted less than
2 hours to weekly scheduled exercise. Since then, the proportion
with such allocation of time has remarkably increased (79.2%). Our
results show that devoting more hours to physical education is not
harmful in terms of academic performance. Likewise, the available
evidence suggests that increasing the allocation of time to Language,
Mathematics or Science at expense of physical education does not
entail better academic outcomes,79 while the effects on students
health are clearly negative.15 In spite of this, Chilean parents, education officials and school authorities still believe that improving
students performance requires shifting hours and resources away
from physical education toward time on academics.

Limitations and Strengths

Several limitations should be acknowledged in this study. Participants were drawn from one region of Chile (Santiago Metropolitan
Region), and may not represent other geographic regions. Nonetheless, this area accounts for more than 55% of Chilean school-age
children, and our sample is representative of the target population
according to type of school (private, partially subsidized and public)
and school academic performance in the SIMCE 2009. Second, we
measured hours of scheduled exercise regardless of the intensity

Scheduled Exercise and Academic Outcomes 1605

of exercise or physical fitness. There is substantial evidence that

both can help improve students academic performance. In addition, statistical association alone cannot establish causation, thus
although our findings show a relationship between regular physical
activity and academic performance in school-age kids, the direction
of causation is still to be established. Finally, the cross-sectional
nature of the study limits the ability to draw conclusions on the
temporality of this relationship.
In spite of these limitations, this research provides results that
confirm the existence of a positive link between regular physical
activity and academic performance, after controlling for confounding factors, such as sex, socioeconomic level and type of school
according to the achievement level in the SIMCE. On the other hand,
we estimated the weighted effect of different engagement levels in
scheduled exercise on students academic outcomes. Furthermore,
we measured students academic performance using a nationwide
standardized test, which assess students in 4 areas: Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Science. Finally, many studies testing
the relationship between academic outcomes and physical activity
had difficulties to find statistically significant results because they
used relatively small samples.9 Our sample, made up of 5th and
9th graders, was large enough (n = 1,271) to provide statistically
significant evidence.
Acknowledgments
Our thanks to Camila Ibaceta for all her support during the anthropometric
examination. We would like to thank to the Ministry of Education, Chile,
for providing part of the data used in this research. Finally, we thank the 2
anonymous reviewers for providing helpful suggestions on the manuscript.
This research received financial support from the National Commission for
Scientific and Technological Research, Chile, under grant FONDECYT
n 1100431.

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