ArticleJAMA network open2024
Daily Physical Activity, Sports Participation, and Executive Function in Children.
Article in JAMA network open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A critical systematic review of the impact of sedentarism and physical inactivity on the cognitive performance of children.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative effects of physical education interventions on motor ability and executive function in junior high school students and their interrelationships.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Early Childhood Movement- and Arts-Based Experiences and Executive Functions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Physical-Digital and social-nonsocial extracurricular engagement: differential effects on brain development and psychological outcomes in children.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Goldilocks day for preschoolers' health outcomes: A compositional data analysis of 24-H movement behaviors on weekdays and weekends.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2026Article
- The Potential Mediating Role of Good Mental Health on the Relationship Between Low Physical Activity and High Screen Time with Executive Functions in Chilean Children and Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Thinking, Feeling, and Moving in Kindergarten Children: How Motor Competence Shapes Executive Function Skills and Emotion Comprehension in Girls.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Sport-specific impacts of ball games on adolescent brain function: a network meta-analysis of executive cognitive tasks.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Effects of open-skill and closed-skill sports on the development of executive function: protocol for a prospective longitudinal cohort study in elite youth athletes.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- The neurobiology of play: a narrative review of evidence from mice and humans for advancing neurorehabilitation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: It is unclear whether daily physical activity and sports participation relate to executive function (EF) in children. Objective: To explore associations between early-life physical activity, sports participation, and executive function in primary school children. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data for this cohort study were collected from April 2006 to December 2017 from the Groningen Expert Center for Kids with Obesity (GECKO) Drenthe birth cohort, which includes Northern Dutch children. Preschool children aged 5 to 6 years and primary school children aged 10 to 11 years with valid EF, daily physical activity, and sports participation data were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed from May 2023 to February 2024. Exposures: At ages 5 to 6 years, daily physical activity was measured with accelerometry. At ages 10 to 11 years, sports participation data were collected using the Short Questionnaire to Assess Health-Enhancing Physical Activity. Main Outcomes and Measures: Executive function was assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function at ages 10 to 11 years. Results: A total of 880 children (470 female [53.4%]; mean [SD] age at EF measurement, 11.1 [0.4] years) were included. Moderate to vigorous physical activity at ages 5 to 6 years did not correlate with EF at ages 10 to 11 years (eg, Global Executive Composite [GEC]: β, 0.16; 95% CI, -0.21 to 0.53). Higher levels of light physical activity at ages 5 to 6 years were associated with poorer inhibitory control (β, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.24-1.47) and self-monitoring (β, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.09-1.48) at ages 10 to 11 years, while greater sedentary time was associated with better inhibitory control (β, -0.62; 95% CI, -1.08 to -0.16) and self-monitoring (β, -0.57; 95% CI, -1.09 to -0.06). Compared with children engaged in individual sports, team sports participants exhibited better overall EF (mean difference [SE], -3.03 [0.81]), behavior regulation (mean difference [SE], -3.39 [0.77]), and metacognition (mean difference [SE], -2.55 [0.81]). Children involved in both types of sports vs only individual sports had better EF (GEC: mean difference [SE], -2.66 [0.93]). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of Dutch children, early-life moderate to vigorous physical activity was not associated with EF in middle childhood. Children participating in team sports at ages 10 to 11 years consistently exhibited superior EF compared with participants in individual sports.
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