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Extracurricular Exercise and Academic Achievement: Evidence from the China Education Panel Survey

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  • Ningyi Li

Abstract

Does physical exercise enhance adolescent academic achievement, and is there an optimal daily duration? Linking two waves of the China Education Panel Survey ($N=8,247$), we examine this association using restricted cubic splines and classroom fixed effects. Prospective estimates without prior-score controls place non-exercising students 0.162 mean subject-z units below peers exercising one hour daily. Flexible baseline-achievement controls shrink this shortfall by 85.1 percent to 0.024. The exercise block is not jointly significant ($p=0.301$), and curvature tests fail to reject linearity ($p=0.659$). Subgroup estimates yield similar gender profiles, with stronger evidence of location variation in English. These findings establish the importance of academic history in observed exercise gradients and challenge prescriptive exercise targets derived from fitted observational turning points.

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  • Ningyi Li, 2023. "Extracurricular Exercise and Academic Achievement: Evidence from the China Education Panel Survey," Papers 2312.11484, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2312.11484
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    1. Carlson, S.A. & Fulton, J.E. & Lee, S.M. & Maynard, L.M. & Brown, D.R. & Kohl III, H.W. & Dietz, W.H., 2008. "Physical education and academic achievement in elementary school: Data from the early childhood longitudinal study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(4), pages 721-727.
    2. Hu, Feng, 2018. "Migrant peers in the classroom: Is the academic performance of local students negatively affected?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 582-597.
    3. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532.
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