Peer-reviewed article
Psychological outcomes of primary-school physical education interventions: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis
Lebin Li, Yao Huang, Di Zhang, Jiaqing meng ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at whether physical education interventions in primary schools improve children's psychological outcomes. It included 74 reports from 70 trial families. The most carefully specified analyses, on social-emotional and related psychological outcomes, gave estimates too uncertain to show a dependable average benefit. A broader controlled analysis, which needed extra statistical assumptions, found a small to moderate positive effect. The authors say the evidence neither confirms benefit nor shows that benefits are absent.
Key points
- Five core social-emotional effects from three trial families gave g = 0.947, 95% CI [−0.774, 2.667], Holm-adjusted p = 0.424.
- Thirteen adjacent psychological effects from five families gave g = 0.215, 95% CI [−0.386, 0.817], Holm-adjusted p = 0.424.
- The broader controlled analysis, with 126 effects from 28 families, gave g = 0.381, 95% CI [0.135, 0.627].
- The broader and combined source-informed estimates were similar (g = 0.381 and 0.421), but the analyses overlap, so they are not independent confirmation.
- The authors report substantial heterogeneity, limits in how the source studies reported their methods, and an inconclusive exploratory small-study diagnostic.
Limitations
Only the abstract is available, so the individual studies, the specific interventions and the countries involved cannot be assessed. The abstract does not state where the trials took place, and only English-language reports were included.
Abstract
Introduction Physical education (PE) offers opportunities for psychological learning, but evidence of benefit depends on the outcome, design, and instructional context. Methods This systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis included 74 reports from 70 trial families of primary-school PE interventions. Four databases covered English-language reports published from January 2000 through 31 May 2026. Randomized and nonrandomized controlled studies were distinguished from uncontrolled pre -post and short-term within-child designs. Multilevel models addressed dependent effects, with trial-family CR2 inference. Results Source-informed controlled analyses contained five core social-emotional effects from three families (g = 0.947, 95% CI [−0.774, 2.667]; Holm-adjusted p = 0.424) and 13 adjacent psychological effects from five families (g = 0.215, 95% CI [−0.386, 0.817]; Holm-adjusted p = 0.424). Model-based prediction intervals were [−2.387, 4.280] and [−1.368, 1.799], respectively. The broader controlled analysis, requiring additional variance or clustering assumptions, included 126 effects from 28 families and yielded g = 0.381, 95% CI [0.135, 0.627]. Discussion The broader and combined source-informed estimates were similar (g = 0.381 and 0.421, respectively), although the latter was less precise; because the analyses overlap, they do not provide independent confirmation of benefit. The primary estimates remain too uncertain to define a dependable average benefit, rather than demonstrating that benefits are absent. Positive broader evidence warrants attention alongside substantial heterogeneity, source-reporting limitations, and an inconclusive exploratory small-study diagnostic. Future trials should align psychological targets, instructional content, implementation measures, and validated outcomes, and report allocation-aware uncertainty.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Primary-school physical education interventions
- Population
- Primary-school children in 70 trial families (74 reports), English-language reports published January 2000 to 31 May 2026
Key finding
Core social-emotional effects (5 effects, 3 families): g = 0.947, 95% CI [−0.774, 2.667], Holm-adjusted p = 0.424, with a prediction interval of [−2.387, 4.280].
Li et al. · OpenAlex · 7 Oct 2026