The impact of state physical education requirements on youth physical activity and overweight
Abstract
To combat childhood overweight in the US, which has risen dramatically in the past three decades, many medical and public health organizations have called for students to spend more time in physical education (PE) classes. This paper is the first to examine the impact of state PE requirements on student PE exercise time. It also exploits variation in state laws as quasi-natural experiments in order to estimate the causal impact of PE on overall student physical activity and weight. We study nationwide data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System for 1999, 2001, and 2003 merged with data on state minimum PE requirements from the 2001 Shape of the Nation Report. We find that high school students with a binding PE requirement report an average of 31 additional minutes per week spent physically active in PE class. Our results also indicate that additional PE time raises the number of days per week that girls report having exercised vigorously or having engaged in strength-building activity. We find no evidence that PE lowers BMI or the probability that a student is overweight. We conclude that raising PE credit requirements may make girls more physically active overall but there is not yet the scientific base to declare raising PE requirements an anti-obesity initiative for either boys or girls.
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Cawley 2007, Gonzalez-Suarez 2009, and Harris 2009 found that increased MVPA in children and adolescents does not necessarily translate into reduced BMI.
“Others have found that while children and adolescents can experience increased levels of MVPA, this does not necessarily translate into reduced BMI (Cawley 2007;Gonzalez-Suarez 2009;Harris 2009).”
From School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 (2013) · cites this paper as Cawley 2007
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- Authors
- Cawley, J., Meyerhoefer, C., & Newhouse, D.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US)
- International Monetary Fund (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cawley, John
- Venue
- Health Economics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-11-23
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1287-1301
- ISSN
- 1057-9230 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-1050
- OpenAlex
- W2153338394
- Cited by
- 169
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 12.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Health Economics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- American Heart Association
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Physical Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- physical education requirements, state education policy, children's physical activity, childhood overweight, obesity prevention, high school students, sex differences in physical activity, high-intensity exercise, body mass index
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Female, Humans, Male, Motor Activity, Physical Education and Training, Regression Analysis, Schools, State Government, Students, United States, Exercise, Body Mass Index, Guidelines as Topic, Sex Distribution, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Overweight
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