High school students’ academic performance associated with psychological aspects, body practices and physical activity

Abstract

The objective of this study was to verify the association of psychological factors and body practices with the academic performance of high school students. A sample of 330 students participated, made up of 167 girls and 163 boys. Likert scale instruments were used for collecting information on self-concept, and on general and academic self-efficacy. Time spent on moderate to vigorous physical activity was recorded, and so was participation in several types of body practices, such as sports, dances, martial arts, performing arts, and systematic physical exercises. Academic achievement was referred to from the students' grades on regular subjects. Linear regression analysis was used for verifying the association of independent variables with academic performance. The adjusted regression model explains between 7% and 36% of academic performance variance, whereas Self-Concept explains academic performance on six of the twelve subjects, and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.13 (p = 0.02) for Sociology and 0.28 (p <0.01) for Mathematics. Academic self-efficacy explained performance on eleven subjects and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.21 (p <0.01) for Physical Education and Philosophy, and 0.44 (p <0.01) for Biology. Participation in extracurricular activities involving body practices explained academic performance on six subjects and the mean of the grades, with Beta values between 0.14 (p = 0.02) for Sociology and 0.31 (p <0.01) for Arts. The studied psychological variables and participation in projects concerning body practices during extracurricular activities correlated with academic achievement as to several school subjects, and with the mean of the grades.