Relations Between Sport Participation, Executive Functioning, and Academic Skills in Childhood

Lindsey Bryant, Purdue University

Abstract

Over two-thirds of youth participate in a structured sport, making it a vital context in which transactional relations with cognitive development can occur. Yet, little is known about how these constructs inform one another across childhood. Most previous studies have focused on health benefits of sport participation, or on demographic and family characteristics as predictors of participation. Though some previous literature has explored the cognitive impacts of sport participation during childhood, as well as whether early cognitive skills may predict later sport participation, critical gaps remain. Specifically, there is a need to investigate the extent to which there are longitudinal relations between these constructs as well as the nature of those associations throughout childhood. Thus, this dissertation examines whether: (1) participating in sports during preschool predicts kindergarten cognitive outcomes (i.e., executive functioning, math, language, literacy), (2) executive functioning and pre-academic skills (i.e., math, language, literacy) at 54 months predict participating in a structured sport (open-skilled, closed-skilled) in third and fifth grade, and (3) if there are bidirectional relations between executive functioning and academic outcomes (i.e., math, language, literacy) and structured sports (open-skilled, closed-skilled) in third and fifth grade. Findings from this dissertation indicated that associations between sport participation and cognition in children are complex, such that the direction of these associations likely depend on developmental period and conceptualization of sport. In particular, there may be positive transactional relations between early sport and cognitive skills, but not in middle childhood. Further, the results suggest that there may be bidirectional relations between open-skilled sport participation and executive functioning across childhood. In addition, almost all associations between closed-skilled sport participation and cognitive skills were nonsignificant. Thus, open-skilled sport participation may demand more cognitive resources than closed-skilled sport participation. Results from this dissertation reinforce the need to use intensive longitudinal data analysis to continue exploring transactional relations between sport participation, executive functioning, and academic skills. Finally, it is vital to reconsider how we evaluate sport participation in children and to include context-specific measures of participation that likely influence relations between these constructs.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Schmitt, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Language|Cognitive psychology|Developmental psychology|Early childhood education|Education|Individual & family studies|Kinesiology|Neurosciences|Psychology|Reading instruction|Systems science

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