title: Active commuting to school was inversely associated with academic achievement in primary but not secondary school students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Physical activity has numerous benefits for children when it comes to academic achievements. This study determined whether active commuting - walking or cycling - to school, as a way of increasing total physical activity levels, was associated with academic achievements in students aged seven to 18 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2138 students participated in the study, which took place in the 2012/2013 academic year in three Spanish cities. We used a self-reported questionnaire to assess how the students travelled to and from school and their final school grades.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We enrolled 489 primary schoolchildren and 1649 secondary schoolchildren, with similar numbers of boys and girls. The primary schoolchildren who travelled to school by motorbike, car or bus had better grades for all the selected school subjects (p ≤ 0.009) than those who walked or cycled. No significant associations were found for secondary schoolchildren, except for mathematics and their grade point averages. All models were adjusted for sex, age and school.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active commuting to school was inversely associated with academic achievement in primary school students but not those at secondary school. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to further understand our findings.
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mora-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-López
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadenas-Sanchez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herrador-Colmenero
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.|Department of Physical Education, Sports and Human Movement, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Esteban-Cornejo
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education Sciences La Inmaculada, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Huertas-Delgado
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.|Department of Educational Quality, Innovation and Attention to Diversity. Counselling of Education, Culture and Universities, Region of Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Ardoy
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmotingFITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Palma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chillón
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004521:Educational Measurement; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014186:Transportation
keywords: Active commuting; Grades; Passive commuting; Physical activity; Young people