title: Physical activity and obesity mediate the association between childhood motor function and adolescents' academic achievement.
abstract: The global epidemic of obesity and physical inactivity may have detrimental implications for young people's cognitive function and academic achievement. This prospective study investigated whether childhood motor function predicts later academic achievement via physical activity, fitness, and obesity. The study sample included 8,061 children from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, which contains data about parent-reported motor function at age 8 y and self-reported physical activity, predicted cardiorespiratory fitness (cycle ergometer test), obesity (body weight and height), and academic achievement (grades) at age 16 y. Structural equation models with unstandardized (B) and standardized (β) coefficients were used to test whether, and to what extent, physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and obesity at age 16 mediated the association between childhood motor function and adolescents' academic achievement. Physical activity was associated with a higher grade-point average, and obesity was associated with a lower grade-point average in adolescence. Furthermore, compromised motor function in childhood had a negative indirect effect on adolescents' academic achievement via physical inactivity (B = -0.023, 95% confidence interval = -0.031, -0.015) and obesity (B = -0.025, 95% confidence interval = -0.039, -0.011), but not via cardiorespiratory fitness. These results suggest that physical activity and obesity may mediate the association between childhood motor function and adolescents' academic achievement. Compromised motor function in childhood may represent an important factor driving the effects of obesity and physical inactivity on academic underachievement.
authors.affiliation: LIKES-Research Center for Sport and Health Sciences, FI-40720 Jyväskylä, Finland. marko.kantomaa@likes.fi
authors.forename: Marko T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Kantomaa
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stamatakis
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kankaanpää
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaakinen
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taanila
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahonen
authors.forename: Marjo-Riitta
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Järvelin
authors.forename: Tuija
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tammelin
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires