Open AccessASSOCIATION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOLCHILDREN OF NEPAL
Author(s) -
Ram Manohar Basnet,
Laxman Manohar Basnet
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
baltic journal of sport and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2538-8347
pISSN - 2351-6496
DOI - 10.33607/bjshs.v3i106.29
Subject(s) - correlation , significant difference , positive correlation , physical activity , negative correlation , pearson product moment correlation coefficient , association (psychology) , psychology , demography , population , positive relationship , medicine , social psychology , sociology , physical therapy , mathematics , statistics , geometry , psychotherapist
Background. There is growing interest in the association between physical activity (PA) and academicperformance (AP) in children, especially in the developing world. However, no in-depth study of such kind has yetbeen undertaken in Nepal. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine if there is correlation between PA andAP in secondary schoolchildren in Nepal.Methods. A crosssectional study was carried in four schools of Nepal. Two schools (one private and one public)were randomly selected from two different districts. Physical activity and academic performance levels of studentswere obtained via questionnaires and Pearson’s correlation was done to determine any association.Results. Our study showed a significant correlation between physical activity and academic performance inthe study population. The correlation was significant for male students, students from rural and urban areas andfrom public schools. However, there was no significant correlation in the female population and students of privateschools. We also observed a significant difference in the physical activity performed by male versus female students(male > female), along with a significant difference in their academic performance (male > female). Further analysisof correlation on the basis of gender showed that physical activity of male students was significantly correlated withthe academic performance irrespective of the location and type of school. However there was no such correlation inthe female students.Conclusion. Our study found that male students who were physically active showed positive correlation betweenphysical activity and academic performance while no such correlation was found in the female students.