Structural Analysis of the Relationships Among Physical Activity, Physical Self-Concept, and Academic Performance: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling

Resumen

The relationship between physical activity, physical self-concept, and academic performance has attracted considerable attention across different disciplines because of its relevance to students’ overall development. However, the complexity of these interactions requires advanced statistical methodologies capable of modeling simultaneous relationships among observed and latent variables. The aim of this study was to analyze the structural relationship among physical activity, physical self-concept, and admission examination results through the application of Structural Equation Modeling. A theoretical model was proposed in which physical activity acted as an exogenous variable, whereas physical self-concept and the admission examination result were considered endogenous variables. The findings showed a positive and statistically significant effect of physical activity on physical self-concept. Physical self-concept, in turn, showed a negative and statistically significant relationship with the admission examination result, while the direct effect of physical activity on the examination result was not significant. Although the global fit indices indicated a limited fit of the model, the structural estimates provided exploratory evidence about the direction and magnitude of the relationships among the variables. These findings highlight the usefulness of structural equation modeling as a methodological tool for examining complex multivariate relationships in educational contexts.