Extracurricular Physical Exercise Affects Teenagers' Expectation of Self-education and mechanism analysis-- Evidence from the CEPS Data

Abstract

Abstract Background: Extracurricular physical exercise is important in improving teenagers' expectations of self-education. However, in China, there are limited empirical analyses based on large microdata samples. Methods: In this study, CEPS data and Ologit model are used to investigate the effect and mechanism of Extracurricular physical exercise on teenagers' self-education expectations. Results: Extracurricular physical exercise can significantly improve teenagers' expectations of self-education; however, there are significant differences in the influence on teenagers with different characteristics. It can significantly increase the expectation of self-education among adolescents with different health levels, moderate and lower cognitive ability, moderate academic performance, relative confidence, and persistence while significantly decreasing the expectation of self-education among adolescents with poor academic performance. It does not significantly affect the self-education expectations of adolescents with higher cognitive ability and better academic performance. Conclusions: The improvement of cognitive ability and academic performance, health level, and self-confidence are all important channels for the improvement of teenagers' expectations of self-education through extracurricular physical exercise.