Research on the Relationship between Physical Fitness Condition and Academic Performance of College Students

Many scholars in the world have proved that there is a certain relationship between college students’ physical health and academic performance. However, most of the existing studies were based on correlation analysis and regression analysis, while few studies using machine learning algorithms. Based on the physical fitness level test and academic performance of total 44240 undergraduate students (male: female = 0.87:1) in China from 2015 to 2019, this paper aims to: a) conduct the correlation analysis between the fitness test scores and academic performance of students under different physical health conditions using Apriori algorithm; b) evaluate the influence of students’ fitness test scores on their academic performance using random forest algorithm. The results show that physical quality is closely related to academic performance, and the higher the physical fitness level, the greater the possibility of obtaining good learning outcomes. The impact of physical fitness indicators on academic performance is different in different physical fitness levels and different gender groups. Muscle strength, body flexibility, and obesity have a great impact on the academic performance of male students, and abdominal muscle strength has a great impact on the academic performance of females. The effect of muscle strength on the academic performance of both males and females will increase with the rise of physical health levels.