Peer-reviewed article
Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity and School Engagement in Adolescents Attending Rural and Urban Schools in Southern Spain.
Solas-Martínez JL, Ramírez-Espejo P, Gómez-Martínez R, Ruiz-Ariza A ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether adolescents who do moderate-to-vigorous physical activity have better school engagement in rural and urban schools in southern Spain. Among 282 adolescents, active urban students showed higher cognitive engagement than inactive ones, but no differences were found in emotional or behavioral engagement, and no associations were found among rural students. The study could not prove that physical activity causes better school engagement because of its cross-sectional design.
Key points
- Active adolescents in urban schools showed significantly higher cognitive engagement than inactive adolescents
- Lower weekly MVPA was associated with higher odds of low cognitive engagement in urban adolescents only
- No significant associations were found between MVPA and behavioral or emotional engagement in any group
- No significant differences existed between rural and urban adolescents in MVPA or school engagement levels
- The association between MVPA and school engagement did not differ significantly between rural and urban contexts
Limitations
The cross-sectional design prevents any conclusion about causality. The study used self-reported physical activity measures and convenience sampling, which may not represent the broader adolescent population.
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a key period for the development of physical activity habits and school-related behaviors. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has been associated with cognitive and educational outcomes, but its relationship with different dimensions of school engagement in rural and urban contexts remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between weekly MVPA and behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement among adolescents attending rural and urban schools in southern Spain. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 282 adolescents (199 from urban schools and 83 from rural schools). School engagement was assessed using the Spanish version of the School Engagement Measure, and weekly MVPA was measured using the PACE+ Adolescent Physical Activity Measure. Adolescents were classified as active or inactive according to whether they reported at least five days per week of MVPA. ANCOVA and binary logistic regression analyses were performed separately by school context, adjusting for age, sex, and BMI. Complementary interaction analyses were conducted to test whether the associations differed across school contexts. Results: No significant differences were found between rural and urban adolescents in MVPA or school engagement. In urban schools, active adolescents showed significantly higher cognitive engagement than inactive adolescents. Lower weekly MVPA was also associated with higher odds of low cognitive engagement in urban adolescents. No significant associations were observed for behavioral or emotional engagement, or among rural adolescents. Conclusions: In subgroup-specific analyses, weekly MVPA was associated with cognitive engagement among adolescents attending urban schools. Given the cross-sectional design, convenience sampling, and self-reported assessment of MVPA, these findings should be interpreted as correlational and cannot establish causality. Moreover, the interaction analyses provided no evidence that the association differed significantly between rural and urban school contexts.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Adolescents classified as active (≥5 days per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) versus inactive
- Population
- 282 adolescents (199 urban, 83 rural) attending schools in southern Spain
Key finding
In urban schools, active adolescents had significantly higher cognitive engagement than inactive adolescents
JL et al. · Europe PMC · 13 Aug 2026