| Summary: | Background and aims: Health and education can be seen as two types of human capital investments. Childhood health and academic achievement have a lasting effect on adult life and some studies indicate that returns to human capital are higher in childhood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between academic achievement and health in children by focusing on the hypothesis that receiving a school-based physical activity and dietary intervention might affect academic achievement. Data and methods: The majority of data utilized originated from the project “Lifestyle of 7-9 year old children”, a cluster randomized health intervention carried out in the years 2006-2008. This data included various health measures before and after the health intervention in three intervention schools (n=163) and three control schools (n= 170). The second data source contained the results of standardized tests that were carried out in the fall of 2008 by the Educational Testing Institute of Iceland. Estimates of the association between the health intervention and a child’s deviation of test scores from their school average in prior years were obtained using traditional regression techniques. Results: Analysis showed that the children in the intervention group did substantially, and statistically significantly better in language achievement, although the effect on math achievement was inconclusive. Covariate estimates were generally as expected, with different factors being strongly related to academic achievement, such as parental SES. Substantial gender differences were observed, as well as differences according to the child’s post-intervention activity level. Discussion: The improvement in health and educational outcomes of the less active would serve the objective of reducing educational inequalities as well as improving overall educational outcomes. Girls outperform boys, both in language and math achievement, if a gender gap in educational achievement persists it might result in a difference in health between men ...
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