Correlation between physical fitness, self-control, attention and academic achievement in socially disadvantaged schoolchildren aged 9-12 from Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Background
Current literature has linked the parameters physical fitness, self-control, attention, socio-economic status and academic achievement in various combinations and has provided evidence for physical and psychological health improvements. The purpose of this study is to assess the relations between the above-mentioned five parameters within the frame of the DASH-study.
Methods
Cross-sectional data including the academic achievement, 20-m shuttle run, a psychosocial questionnaire including questions about the socio-economic status (SES), the brief self-control-scale and the d2-test of attention were collected within the frame of the longitudinal DASH-study taking place in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Participants (N=945) are aged 9-12 and divided approximately equally across gender (50.5% are female and 49.5% male).
Results
The correlation analysis revealed no significant relation between physical fitness and academic achievement. There was a small positive correlation between physical fitness and attention. No significant relations could be found neither between self-control and academic achievement nor between self-control and attention. Further, the results did not indicate a relation between physical fitness and self-control. But the results show a substantial positive correlation between SES and academic achievement and a small positive relation between SES and attention.
Discussion
The two key findings of the present study are that attention is associated with cardiorespiratory fitness and that SES is related to academic achievement and attention. All other parameters do not correlate significantly, thereby deviating from results of contemporary research.