Association between the Duration of the Active Commuting to and from School, and Cognitive Performance in Urban Portuguese Adolescents

Ana Rodrigues, Hélio Antunes, Ricardo Alves, Ana Luísa Correia, Helder Lopes, Bebiana Sabino, Adilson Marques (), Andreas Ihle and Élvio Rúbio Gouveia
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Ana Rodrigues: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal
Hélio Antunes: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal
Ricardo Alves: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal
Ana Luísa Correia: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal
Helder Lopes: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal
Bebiana Sabino: Higher School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Beja, 7800-295 Beja, Portugal
Adilson Marques: Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Human Performance (CIPER), Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1499-002 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
Andreas Ihle: Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Élvio Rúbio Gouveia: Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Madeira, 9000-082 Funchal, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-10

Abstract: This study aimed to analyze the differences between active commuting to school (ACS) and non-ACS in cognitive performance (CP), and the association of ACS duration with CP. This cross-sectional study included 370 adolescents (males n = 170), with a mean age of 15.28 ± 2.25 years. CP was assessed through an interview, and ACS, extracurricular physical activity, and socioeconomic status was assessed by self-report. Body composition was assessed using the FitnessGram test battery. One in two adolescents did ACS (51.6%). ACS was associated with boys (53.9%), younger adolescents (14.91 ± 2.15 vs. 15.69 ± 2.29), those having school social support (55.0%), and those doing one or more extracurricular physical activities (53.6%), compared to non-ACS participants ( p < 0.05). The analysis of covariance, after controlling for age, sex, school social support, and participation in extracurricular physical activity, showed an effect of ACS on the total cognitive score (F (2,362) = 3.304, p < 0.05). The CP was higher in adolescents with more than 30 min of ACS than non-ACS ( p < 0.05). The influence of ACS duration can be seen in the dimensions of inductive reasoning (ß = 0.134, t = 2.587, p < 0.05) and working memory (ß = 0.130, t = 2.525, p < 0.05). The role of ACS for CP, as well as guidelines for future research, are discussed.

Keywords: active commuting to school; cognitive performance; adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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