The prospective contribution of sport and active leisure to student academic and psycho-social success from kindergarten to high school 

Introduction and context

Only 8% of school age Canadian students meet the recommended daily goal of ≥ 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Youth mental health problems have doubled over the past two decades. As family life represents a primary vehicle for child growth and development, lifestyle movement habits are learned in early childhood. As such, one hopes that “as twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.”  Disconcertingly, there is little evidence on the benefits associated with childhood opportunities for male and female participation in sport/active leisure. Stakeholders within sport (coaches, officials, volunteers, athletes) need this kind of research because it helps provide compelling evidence for convincing the public about the importance of sport. Stakeholders from outside the sport (parents, teachers, school principals, municipal/provincial/territorial/federal government need this kind of research because they decide to invest in childhood sport when there are other alternatives. The extant research prior to our work was mainly cross-sectional, typically on early adolescents, and often looked at sport at one point in time instead of regrouping participation across a critical period. These characteristics created important gaps in knowledge. As a result, we sought to estimate the relationship between childhood participation in sport/active leisure (structured by a coach or instructor) and subsequent psycho-social outcomes in adolescence. Benefits for mental health and better achievement prospects are among the new insights offered. Stakeholders within and beyond sport should care about this because there is a pandemic of (1) poor mental health, (2) underachievement, and (3) sedentariness in Canadian youth. Our research offers a wholesome way to counter these risks through sport and active leisure participation between kindergarten and fourth grade. Our position as multidisciplinary researchers remains that sport should be offered as an extracurricular activity by every family and at every school, regardless of socio-economic and socio-cultural background. 

Methods

  • Objective: We sought to estimate the relationship between middle childhood participation in sport/active leisure (structured by a coach or instructor) and subsequent psycho-social outcomes in adolescence. 
  • Hypothesis We hypothesized that engaging in extracurricular physical activity will promote subsequent reductions in symptoms of poor mental health and better prospects for long-term achievement. 
  • Design: Gender-based prospective-longitudinal birth cohort  
  • Sample: Participants are 907 girls and 952 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. 
  • Predictor: Organized Physical Activity Predictor (at ages 6, 7, 8, and 10). Mothers reported on whether the child participated in sports or organized physical activities with a coach/instructor.  
  • Outcomes: (from ages 12-17 years). From ages 12 to 17 years, youth reported on indicators of mental health and academic adjustment /performance over the last 6 months.  
  • Confound controls: Parent reported early childhood individual and family factors in fully controlled models. 
  • Data Analytic Strategy: Developmental trajectories of physical activity from ages 6 to 10 were generated using growth mixture modelling. Academic and psycho-social outcomes were linearly regressed on trajectories of participation in organized physical activity in boys and girls, while controlling for pre-existing child and family characteristics.

Key findings and implications (with publications authored or coauthored by students are underlined)

In Brière with CIs and students (2019, Doi: 10.1038/s41390-019-0417-5), we found that consistent participation in sport and structured active leisure predicted improvements emotional adjustment in children.

In Brière with CIs and students (2019, Doi: 10.1038/s41390-019-0417-5) we found that consistent participation in organized physical activity predicted better emotional adjustment in children.

In Gonzalez-Sicilia with CIs (2019, doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.10.017), we found prospective-longitudinal associations between participation in leisure-time physical activity structured by a coach or instructor at age 6 and later academic performance at age 12.

In González-Sicilia with CIs (2022, Doi: 10.12691/jpar-7-1-5), we found that active lifestyle in produced by extracurricular kindergarten sport predicted better lifestyle choices by end of sixth grade.

In Harbec with CIs (2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101581), we found long-term mutual benefits between classroom and sport engagement in children from ages 6 to 12 years, as expressed by the adage healthy body, healthy mind.

  In Harbec with CIs and students (2021, https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000001005), we found that physical activity from extracurricular sport, served as both predictor and outcome of emotional distress trajectories in middle childhood.

In Imbeault and Pagani (2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106780), we found that consistent middle childhood participation in organized sport diminished chances of disruptive behavior in later childhood.

In Kosak with CIs and fellow students (2022, https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2022-0031), we found associations between extracurricular kindergarten participation in sport under the guise of organized physical activity, predicted subsequent healthy body weight and leg strength by the end of second grade.

In Pagani with CIs and students (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106256), we observed positive associations between consistent investment in organized sport and prospects for academic success from middle school onward. For both girls and boys, participation predicted increments in aspirations and reductions in academic failure and dropout risk through to the senior year of high school. These findings respect biological influences and social expectations and are net of most competing explanations. Middle childhood extracurricular sport participation forecasts later indicators of success in youth. Childhood sport represents a promising flourishment factor for the development of boys and girls. As a population-based strategy, supporting parental investment in organized/structured physical activity in team or individual sport venues may directly translate into better life course population health.

In Pagani with CIs and students (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106256), girls’ consistent participation in organized PA predicted lower subsequent ADHD symptoms, compared with girls with low-inconsistent participation (unstandardized B = 0.07, p = 0.05, 95% CI, 0.01-0.14). Participation in organized physical activity from ages 6 to 10 years did not significantly predict ADHD symptoms at age 12 in boys. Early and sustained involvement in organized physical activity in middle childhood seems beneficial for the subsequent behavioral development of girls.

Strengths and limitations

Our work, although prospective-longitudinal, is not without limitations. First, it is observational, precluding causal references. Second, it did not analyze standardized test data. However, self-report data on academic achievement and mental health symptoms are reliably correlated with more objective tests. The chief strengths of this study are its longitudinal tracking of prolonged childhood exposure to extracurricular sport at a very young age, large array of academic achievement indicators, prospective nature, and comprehensive confound control. Our later publications (after 2020) focus on the sexes as two heterogeneous populations with distinct interests, motivations, and contextual experiences also represents an ideal design option. Sport participation can mean different things to boys and girls.

Conclusions

Through sport and active leisure participation between kindergarten and fourth grade, our research offers a wholesome way to counter populational risks for underachievement and poor mental health. Our findings respect biological influences and social expectations and are net of most competing explanations. Middle childhood extracurricular sport participation forecasts later indicators of success in youth. Childhood sport represents a promising factor that induces developmental flourishment in boys and girls. As a population-based strategy, supporting parental investment in organized/structured physical activity in team or individual sport venues may directly translate into better life course population health. As multidisciplinary researchers and clinicians, our position remains that sport should be offered as an extracurricular activity by every family and at every school, regardless of socio-economic and socio-cultural background.

Next steps

Disconcertingly, there is little evidence on early individual and family factors that can theoretically affect opportunities for childhood life habits, especially participation in sport/leisure physical activity. Social-, family, and individual-level inequalities in opportunities are important and overlooked sources of moderating influence, and these start in early childhood. Our more recent work has acknowledged and underscored that boys and girls experience risk/protective factors in unique ways, given biological and contextual influences, and thus have distinct experiences with sport/physical activity, sedentariness, and risk factors that affect opportunities for extracurricular movement. Information about how early childhood individual and family factors affect the relationship between childhood sport/active leisure and long-term well-being is crucially needed to create incentives for participation and thus reap the benefits. As next steps, our SSHRC 2023 renewal with a team of new colleagues and students will aim to examine the prospective-moderating role of potential moderately prevalent early childhood moderators in Canadian-born millennial boys and girls.

About the Author(s) / A propos de(s) l'auteur(s)

Dr. Linda Pagani is a professor at the University of Montreal.

The information presented in SIRC blogs and SIRCuit articles is accurate and reliable as of the date of publication. Developments that occur after the date of publication may impact the current accuracy of the information presented in a previously published blog or article.
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