Revising on the run or studying on the sofa:Prospective associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and exam results in British adolescents

Corder, Kirsten, Atkin, Andrew J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3819-3448, Bamber, Diane J, Brage, Soren, Dunn, Valerie J, Ekelund, Ulf, Owens, Matthew, van Sluijs, Esther M F and Goodyer, Ian M (2015) Revising on the run or studying on the sofa:Prospective associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and exam results in British adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12. ISSN 1479-5868

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Abstract

Background: We investigated prospective associations between physical activity/sedentary behaviour (PA/SED) and General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results in British adolescents.  Methods: Exposures were objective PA/SED and self-reported sedentary behaviours (screen (TV, Internet, Computer Games)/non-screen (homework, reading)) measured in 845 adolescents (14·5y ± 0·5y; 43·6 % male). GCSE results at 16y were obtained from national records. Associations between exposures and academic performance (total exam points) were assessed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression adjusted for mood, BMI z-score, deprivation, sex, season and school; potential interactions were investigated.  Results: PA was not associated with academic performance. One-hour more accelerometer-assessed SED was associated with (β(95 % CI)) 6·9(1·5,12·4) more GCSE points. An extra hour of screen time was associated with 9.3(-14·3,-4·3) fewer points whereas an extra hour of non-screen time (reading/homework) was associated with 23·1(14·6,31·6) more points. Screen time was still associated with poorer scores after adjusting for objective PA/SED and reading/homework.  Conclusions: An extra hour/day of screen time at 14·5y is approximately equivalent to two fewer GCSE grades (e.g., from B to D) at 16y. Strategies to achieve the right balance between screen and non-screen time may be important for improving academic performance. Concerns that encouraging more physical activity may result in decreased academic performance seem unfounded.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	physical activity,academic performance,adolescent,sedentary behaviour,television viewing
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Promotion Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Norwich Epidemiology Centre Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2017 04:22
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2023 01:55
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/62361
DOI:	10.1186/s12966-015-0269-2

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