The Relationship Between Children's Physical Fitness And Academic Ability As Seen From Japan's National Data

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between physical fitness and academic ability of Japanese children using the data of the “National physical fitness survey” of the Japan Sports Agency and the “National academic ability survey” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. METHODS: The subjects were 2,417 elementary school 6th graders (1,325) and middle school 2nd graders (1,605). The overall physical fitness assessment determined from the 8 physical fitness tests was used as the evaluation value. For academic ability evaluation, we used the number of correct answers for basic and applied questions in national language and mathematics. National language (basic and applied), mathematics (basic and applied), basic academic ability (national language and math), applied academic ability (national language and math), and the total number of correct answers for all tests were calculated and analyzed. An independence test was applied to verify the relationship between academic ability and physical fitness. RESULTS: As a result of the analysis, there were significant (p < 0.01) associations between all academic ability items and the overall physical fitness assessments for elementary and middle school students. Significant χ2-values were found in all academic ability items in the total number of correct answers by physical fitness evaluation. As a result of residual analysis, the rate of low correct answers was significantly smaller and the rate of high correct answers was significantly higher in children with high level physical fitness. In other words, important evidence has been shown that children who have increased physical fitness through outdoor play and sports tend to have higher academic ability levels. CONCLUSIONS: Elementary school students tended to have higher academic ability as their overall physical strength was higher. This tendency appears as a remarkable difference in applied academic ability. On the other hand, in middle school students, the academic ability levels of group A, B, and C were similar. However, the level of academic ability in group D and E is remarkably low, and it seems that students in the low physical fitness group lack a positive approach to study.