ERIC Number: ED579077
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2017-May-16
Pages: 76
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Effect of Physical Activity on Student Performance in College: An Experimental Evaluation. CEPA Working Paper No. 17-03
Fricke, Hans; Lechner, Michael; Steinmayr, Andreas
Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis
What is the role of physical activity in the process of human capital accumulation? Brain research provides growing evidence of the importance of physical activity for various aspects of cognitive functions. An increasingly sedentary lifestyle could thus be not only harmful to population health, but also disrupt human capital accumulation. This paper analyzes the effects of on-campus recreational sports and exercise on educational outcomes of university students. To identify causal effects, we randomize financial incentives to encourage students' participation in on-campus sports and exercise. The incentives increased participation frequency by 0.26 times per week (47%) and improved grades by 0.14 standard deviations. This effect is primarily driven by male students and students at higher quantiles of the grade distribution. Results from survey data suggest that students substitute off-campus with on-campus physical activities during the day but do not significantly increase the overall frequency. Our findings suggest that students spend more time on campus and are better able to integrate studying and exercising, which may enhance the effectiveness of studying and thus improve student performance. [Migros provided financial support for this study.]
Descriptors: Physical Activities, Physical Activity Level, Academic Achievement, Recreational Activities, On Campus Students, Student Participation, Athletics, Human Capital, Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Pilot Projects, Experimental Groups, Control Groups, Outcomes of Education, Incentives, Exercise, Statistical Analysis
Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis. 520 Galvez Mall, CERAS Building, 5th Floor, Stanford, CA 94305. Tel: 650-736-1258; Fax: 650-723-9931; e-mail: contactcepa@stanford.edu; Web site: http://cepa.stanford.edu
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Authoring Institution: Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) at Stanford University
Identifiers - Location: Switzerland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A