The Association between Sport Activities and Educational Achievements: Evidence from Russian Longitudinal Data

Abstract

This paper empirically studies the association between sport activities and educational achievements of school students from 1st to 11th grade. The used sample included observations over the period 2010-2015 taken from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (waves 19-24), which is a unique nationally representative survey. The method consisted of logit regressions with panel data, which allows control for time-invariant explanatory variables. The empirical analysis was divided into sport activities at school (in class) and out-of-school (before or after classes). Furthermore, the regression analysis examined the effect of three large groups of sport activities: 1) Combat sports, such as karate, judo, self-defense, wrestling, and boxing, 2) Ball sports, such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and volleyball, 3) Athletic sports, such as track and field, skiing, and skating. General speaking, the findings indicated that sport activities at school do not have significant associations with educational achievements. On the other hand, sport activities out-of-school showed some positive relationships. Specifically, participation in athletic and combat sports increases the probabilities of boys and girls, respectively, of being classified as high-performing students. Moreover, male students practicing ball sports out-of-school are less likely to be classified as low-performing students. The time that students spent on these sports does not influence these probabilities. However, male students spending more than 10 hours per week on sports (high-performance sportsmen) are more likely than other students of being linked to the group of low-performing students.