Author(s)

Biyan Ai ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of Mathematics and Statistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, 510006, China

Corresponding Author

Biyan Ai

ABSTRACT

Investigating the relationship between physical activity frequency, sleep duration, and academic achievement among adolescents carries considerable importance. This study, based on data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in the United States, employed correlation analysis, regression models, and the PROCESS macro (Model 4) to test mediating effects, with gender, grade, and race selected as control variables. Employing the Bootstrap method, repeat sampling was conducted 5,000 times to estimate the 95% confidence interval for the indirect effect. The results showed that there were significant positive correlations between all three variables—physical activity frequency, sleep duration, and academic achievement—in every pair. Sleep duration mediated 15.98% of the total effect between physical activity frequency and academic achievement. It is one of the key mechanisms explaining the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement, but it is not the only explanatory pathway. The study suggests that both schools and families should focus on adolescents' physical activity and sleep health in order to work together to improve their academic performance.

KEYWORDS

Adolescents; Frequency of physical activity; Sleep duration; Academic achievement; Mediating effect

CITE THIS PAPER

Biyan Ai. A Serial Mediation Study of Physical Activity Frequency, Sleep Duration, and Academic Achievement among Adolescents Based on YRBS Data. Journal of Human Movement Science (2026) Vol. 7, No. 1, 46-50. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jhms.2026.070107.

REFERENCES

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[3] Zu-bing Xiang, Yan-ni Zhang, Yun-ke Luo, Shao-cong Zhao. (2021). Effect of extracurricular physical activity on teenagers' academic achievement-An empirical research based on threshold regression model. Journal of Physical Education, 28 (6), 119–125.
[4] Wei-xia Zhang, Ying-ying Jiao, Xia Xu, Jing-lei Yan. (2016). Effects of high school students physical exercising on their academic achievements-mediating functions of sleep quality. Journal of Physical Education, 23 (6), 135–140.
[5] Yingying Liao, Hui Liu, Xia Xu, et al. (2022). Influence of Teenager Physical Fitness on Academic Achievement in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model. Journal of Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, 56 (3), 70–78.
[6] Chunguang Li. (2023). The Impact and Mechanism of Physical activity on Adolescent Academic Performance-An Empirical Analysis Based on China Education Panel Survey. Education Research Monthly, (6), 67–74.
[7] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System 2023 National Dataset. 

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