ArticleDevelopmental science2022
Amount and type of physical activity as predictors of growth in executive functions, attentional control, and social self-control across 4 years of elementary school.
Article in Developmental science, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The impact of sports participation on psychological health and social outcomes in children and adolescents: a systematic review and update to the "Mental Health through Sport" conceptual model.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Changes in verbal fluency, anthropometric parameters, physical activity, and physical fitness following an after-school basketball program in children: a pilot study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Gross-Motor Coordination and Executive Functions Development in Soccer and Artistic Gymnastics Preadolescent Female Athletes.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Time-course effects of cognitively engaging physical activity on executive function and self-control in younger school-aged children: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Daily Physical Activity, Sports Participation, and Executive Function in Children.JAMA network open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
This paper used a nationally representative sample of children from the United States to examine the extent to which physical activity and sports participation may promote growth in children's executive functions (EFs), attention, and social self-control over time. Using data from the ECLS-K:2011 (N = 18,174), findings indicated that regular physical activity predicted growth in EFs and attention from 3rd to 4th grade (βs = 0.03-0.05) but not from kindergarten to 1st grade. After controlling for the frequency of physical activity, participation in group sports predicted increases in EFs, attention, and social self-control during both periods (βs = 0.02-0.04). Though modest in size, the findings suggest that encouraging children to engage in more frequent and more team-based activity will benefit the development of their EFs and related skills, and especially so for children in middle childhood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.