Abstract:
Participation in sport and physical activity can improve academic outcomes, and has been identified as a potential mechanism for addressing educational disadvantage in Australian Indigenous communities. This presentation reports on the associations between sports participation and subsequent academic achievement in Indigenous children from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC).Two separate analysis was performed to examine the impact of sport and physical activity on education performance. The first examined complete data of 332 children aged 5-6 years at baseline over four successive survey waves between 2010 and 2013. Participation in organised sports over the previous week or month was reported by parents, and summed across waves to produce a Cumulative Sports Participation Score (participation at 0-4 waves). Academic performance in 2014 and 2015 was derived from linked data from two sets of standardised tests of literacy and numeracy, the Progressive Achievement Test and the National Assessment Program. The second performed a cluster analysis on data from the LSIC), using data from Waves 3-6 (2010-2013, ages 5-9 years) of this cohort study. Cluster inputs were organised sports participation, screen time, sleep duration and unhealthy food intake, as reported in parent surveys. Associations between cluster membership and academic outcomes from standardised tests from 2014-5 (Progressive Achievement Tests [PATs] for Maths and Reading, and National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]) were examined using linear models. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, remoteness and parental education