SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2025
The effects of physical activity on social-emotional competence in primary school students: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Understanding Variation in Social and Emotional Learning Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Physical Education and Physical Activity.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- The relationship between digital health literacy and problematic mobile social media use among adolescents: the chain mediating role of physical activity and social-emotional competence.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Children and adolescents globally face escalating mental health challenges, with approximately one in seven experiencing mental health conditions. This phenomenon is closely linked to underdeveloped social-emotional competence (SEC), highlighting the urgency of prioritizing and strengthening socioemotional development. The primary school years represent a developmentally sensitive period for cultivating SEC, making this stage particularly crucial. As a viable intervention approach, physical activity (PA) demonstrates established associations with multiple dimensions of SEC. Consequently, this meta-analysis systematically integrates and quantitatively evaluates empirical studies involving primary school students aged 5-13 years to determine the overall effect of PA interventions on SEC. Methods: This review strictly followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Practical Guide for Transparent Reporting of Systematic Reviews. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster randomized controlled trials (cRCTs) examining PA interventions targeting SEC in primary school students. Cohen's d served as our primary effect size metric. Results: Twelve studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that PA intervention improved SEC in primary school students [ Discussion: The findings of this meta-analysis provide robust evidence for the effectiveness of PA interventions in enhancing SEC among primary school students. Moderator analyses indicate that the effect is moderated by PA type, participant group, Length of Intervention, and Research Period. These findings underscore the significant potential of PA as a feasible solution for improving SEC in this population. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251012368, identifier: CRD420251012368.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.