THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON SELF-ESTEEM IN THE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

INFLUENCIA DE LA ACTIVIDAD FÍSICA SOBRE LA AUTOESTIMA EN EL CONTEXTO EDUCATIVO: UNA REVISIÓN SISTEMÁTICA

Introduction

The concept of self-esteem has become relevant in recent years in different scientific fields, including education, to predict behaviours such as bullying (Benítez-Sillero et al., 2021). This has led to the appearance of numerous studies in different lines and fields of action. In the case of the educational field in general, and Physical Education in particular, there is a growing interest in addressing emotional, social and/or psychological aspects (Armada-Crespo et al., 2013; Armada-Crespo et al., 2020; Armada-Crespo & Rosa-Jiménez, 2019; Baena-Morales et al., 2022; Benítez-Sillero et al., 2022; Boraita et al., 2023; Cronin et al., 2018; Pellicer, 2015; Pellicer, 2018; Yook et al., 2017). In this way, self-esteem can be defined as the evaluation or attitude that a person has towards him or herself, with the widespread intention of having a healthy, adaptive, high level of self-esteem and even defending it at times when it may be compromised (Bailey, 2017; Cronin et al., 2018; Hosogi et al., 2012; Pyszczynski et al., 2004; Salazar, 2008). All of this would imply self-satisfaction based on perceived self-image (Bisquerra, 2003; Hue, 2016).

Given that the environment closest to primary and secondary school students (family, neighbourhood and school) has a great influence on their self-esteem, it is necessary to create contexts in the educational environment that guarantee successful experiences for students, avoiding or preventing the risk of developing psychosocial problems (Hosogi et al., 2012). In this sense, different studies conclude that physical activity has a positive influence on self-esteem (Lubans et al., 2012; Pellicer, 2015, 2018; Vallejo & Alguacil-Jiménez, 2022; Yook et al., 2017). The contributions of Physical Education to psychological development and well-being place it in an advantageous position to improve students' self-esteem as it enhances life skills such as teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, interpersonal communication, social skills, leadership, problem solving and decision-making (Bailey, 2017; Cronin et al. 2018; Waldron, 2009; Yook et al., 2017). Moreover, as with the development of social skills (Pelegrín-Muñoz et al., 2010), the practice of physical activity in itself, whether in Physical Education classes or elsewhere, does not guarantee the development of self-esteem. It is the teacher who must guarantee Physical Education that improves and/or reinforces the self-esteem of his or her students (Navarro-Patón et al., 2019).

In line with works that address Physical Education and aim to improve self-esteem are studies such as that of Klizas et al. (2012), obtaining significant improvements in the three main components of psychosocial adjustment, including self-esteem. In the same direction is the contribution of Yook et al. (2017) who, based on an intervention based on a new sport, aimed at working on play, emotional aspects and conscious yoga, obtained an improvement in resilience, happiness and self-esteem in students in South Korea. Another study that points to the benefits of physical activity on self-esteem is that proposed by Harrington et al. (2018) in the United Kingdom, where, through a programme with 1,752 women, different parameters of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle were evaluated, in addition to self-esteem, finding that the intervention favoured an improvement in these variables. Another experience with 217 adolescents aged 14-15 years, who received a physical activity programme twice a week for seven months in Physical Education classes, showed a trend towards better psychosocial adaptation and an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety (Kliziene et al., 2018). Along the same lines, the study by Andrade et al. (2020) with a programme of exergames, within Physical Education sessions, indicates that the use of this type of strategies favours the improvement of mood and has positive effects on students' self-esteem. Also noteworthy is the research by Yìğìter (2014) who randomly assigned 80 university women to the control and experimental groups, finding improvements in self-esteem and a significant decrease in hopelessness, in both variables, in the experimental group after participating in a physical activity programme.

Taking into account the above, the search for an improvement in psychosocial factors determines the need to plan and programme Physical Education to achieve these objectives and not only improvements in physical or motor aspects (Bailey, 2017; Benítez-Sillero et al., 2021; Navarro-Patón et al., 2019; Yook et al., 2017). In this sense, experiences such as those of DeBate and Thompson (2005) point to the complementary value in the combination of organised physical activity programmes that take into account mental well-being for the improvement of self-esteem (Lubans et al., 2012). The evidence presented suggests that physical activity has great potential for the improvement of physical self-perception and self-esteem. It also appears that good physical self-perception and self-esteem are related to good mental health (Dale et al., 2019; Fox, 2000). In this line, a study with secondary school students shows that the relationship between self-esteem and physical fitness, alluding to the possibility that students who have a better self-esteem are also more physically active (Russo et al., 2019). More recently, the work of Boraita et al. (2023) relates a healthier lifestyle, including physical activity, to higher scores on indicators such as self-esteem.

In this sense, and coinciding with Fox (2000), although the experiences presented seem to demonstrate the relationship between physical activity and self-esteem, there are still few studies that analyse the characteristics of these educational interventions and their effects. The aim of the present study is based on this reality: to identify and analyse the programmes that have been carried out in relation to the work on self-esteem and physical activity in the Primary and Secondary Education stages.

Materials and Methods

This study focused on conducting a systematic review in order to recognise and analyse existing research on the development of self-esteem through physical activity. The PRISMA statement (Page et al., 2021) and the practical guide for systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis (Moher et al., 2015) were used to conduct this systematic review.

Inclusion Criteria

The inclusion criteria used in this study were: a) the full text had to be available; b) it had to be written in one of the selected languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese; c) it had to be a scientific study that included an analysis of self-esteem as a function of the practice of physical activity; d) it had to be carried out with students in Primary or Secondary Education. In addition, it is noteworthy that no time limit was applied in the selection of the articles in the sample, in order to be more exhaustive in the search. Consequently, manuscripts were included as a result of a selection process based on the different eligibility criteria mentioned above. In addition, the reference lists of the selected articles were analysed in order to make the search more comprehensive.

Search Strategy

The systematic review followed the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021). Firstly, it was agreed to use the following search phrase: (primary education OR primary school OR elementary school OR basic education OR Secondary School OR Compulsory Secondary Education OR Obligatory Secondary Education OR Secondary education) AND (Physical education) AND (Emotional intelligence OR Emotional Education OR Emotional skills OR Socio-emotional skills OR Socio-affective skills OR emotional competence OR emotional competency OR emotional competencies OR emotional competencies OR emotional intelligence model OR Emotional learning OR Socio-emotional learning OR Socio-affective learning) AND (Self-esteem) AND (intervention OR experimental OR quasi-experimental OR randomized controlled trial). We then searched for articles in five databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Eric and PsycInfo) from 9 June to 15 July 2023. This search was divided into three blocks: 1) physical activity or education; 2) self-esteem; and 3) intervention, experimental, quasi-experimental, randomised controlled trial or descriptive study. After completing the search, duplicates were removed.

Study Selection and Data Processing

After completing the document search, the title and abstract of the papers were analysed in order to identify the most relevant ones and exclude those that did not meet the inclusion criteria. In this way, seven articles were selected for data analysis, focusing on the theme of self-esteem as the main element in the various investigations. After the analysis of the previously selected articles, a search was carried out by analysing the bibliographical references used in the included articles, which resulted in the incorporation of a further three studies. Below is a flow chart that visually represents the procedure followed for the selection of the articles that form part of the review (figure 1).

Quality Assessment

Once the articles were selected to be analysed in the review, they were subjected to a quality assessment using the Standard Quality Assessment Criteria for Evaluating Primary Research Papers from a Variety of Fields (Kmet et al., 2004) for quantitative studies. Each report was exposed to a total of 14 items, which were related to the research design, the characteristics of the sample, the methodology used, the data analysis, as well as the way in which the results and conclusions of the study are presented. These items were scored in relation to the degree of satisfaction or not of the items within each research study: 2 (satisfactory), 1 (partially satisfactory), 0 (not satisfactory) and NA (not applicable). The final score was obtained using the following formula [("satisfactory numbers" x 2) + ("partially satisfactory numbers" x 1) / 28 - ("not applicable numbers" x 2)]. The scores obtained were expressed as percentages, ranging from 0 to 100%. Two researchers assessed the quality of the studies individually, seeking the greatest possible objectivity.

Data Collection

In an initial stage, data were collected from the selected articles. The information collected was then thoroughly checked, following the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021). Key elements included details about participants, intervention, comparisons, outcomes and study design, all in accordance with the structure. Two experts in the field conducted this research with the aim of assessing consistency in coding and determining the level of agreement between researchers in data extraction and selection (González-Valero et al., 2019). A 94% level of agreement was reached in the classification of articles, calculated by multiplying the number of matches by 100 and dividing it by the total number of categories defined for each study, followed by a further multiplication by 100.

Results

In the initial search of the databases, 233 results were found, of which 226 papers were eliminated due to duplication, relation to the studied topic and implementation of the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In addition, it is worth mentioning that three articles were selected by analysing the references of the selected articles in the databases. Thus, in the end, 10 articles were included in this systematic review, as they met all the inclusion criteria (see Figure 1).

Quality of Studies

Item quality scores were expressed as percentages, ranging from 0 to 100%, ranging from .57 to 1 (table 1). Inter-rater agreement was calculated using the intra-class correlation coefficient, yielding a score of .873 (p = .003), indicating a good degree of agreement (Koo & Li, 2016). After implementing inter-rater agreement, a conservative cut-off point was agreed upon for the selection of raters, including studies with scores of no less than 55%. Overall scores ranged from .57 to 1 (first observer) and .60 to .95 (second observer).

Results of the Studies

The data from the articles were coded according to the following units of analysis: (1) Author/s; (2) Country; (3) Context; (4) Subjects; (5) Age; (6) Methodology; (7) Type of study; (8) Duration; and (9) Protocol. The main characteristics of the studies analysed are presented below (table 2).

Table 3 details the variables (2), the instruments used (3), the objectives (4), together with the research findings (5). These results highlight the intricate nature of the factors that influence self-esteem. The collected results revealed a remarkable connection between physical activity and self-esteem in primary and secondary school students. In both groups, a positive relationship was observed between participation in physical activity and high levels of self-esteem. This link was further strengthened when considering that both females and males who engage in physical activity showed significantly higher levels of self-esteem. Furthermore, specific interventions, such as the implementation of Creative Dance and BrainDance programmes (Theocharidou et al., 2018) in primary school students, demonstrated a positive impact on imagination, creativity and self-esteem, highlighting the relevance of pedagogical approaches that incorporate physical activity to foster emotional and psychosocial well-being from an early age.

The importance of these findings in the educational context is also highlighted, as they suggest that interventions focused on promoting physical activity not only benefit students' general health, but also contribute significantly to the positive development of their self-esteem. These findings support the idea that school-based programmes that include physical activities, either through traditional Physical Education classes or through innovative approaches such as exergames (Andrade et al., 2020), can play a crucial role in improving students' self-perception, potentially influencing their emotional well-being and academic performance.

Discussion

The aim of this systematic review was to identify and analyse the programmes that have been carried out in relation to the work on self-esteem and physical activity in primary and secondary education.

Comparing the studies by educational stage, it was observed that the studies carried out in Primary Education showed a positive relationship between physical activity and self-esteem in Physical Education classes (Andrade et al., 2020; Theocharidou et al., 2018; Tremblay et al., 2000). The influence of educational innovation with proposals such as Creative Dance and BrainDance (Theocharidou et al., 2018) and exergames (Andrade et al., 2020) and the tendency to plan Physical Education in favour of improving self-esteem were also observed in the aforementioned studies, especially in the most recent ones, although there were also notable experiences that described the influence on this psychological variable without specific planning for its improvement (Tremblay et al., 2000).

Looking at research in Secondary Education, and following the line of work in Primary Education, an improvement in self-esteem was noted after measurement in the different studies (Boraita et al., 2023; Kang & Kim, 2023; Klizas et al., 2012; Kliziene et al., 2018; Knox & Muros, 2017; Russo et al., 2019; Zandi et al., 2021). In this way, there were experiences that showed the influence of school physical activity without specific programming aimed at improving self-esteem, but which yielded positive data that related both variables (Boraita et al., 2023; Knox & Muros, 2017; Russo et al., 2019), and works that addressed a specific programme to work on self-esteem, among other aspects, found equally positive results (Kang & Kim, 2023; Klizas et al., 2012; Kliziene et al., 2018; Zandi et al., 2021). Among the latter, experiences in mindfulness (Kang & Kim, 2023; Zandi et al., 2021) and programmes aimed at strengthening psychosocial adaptation (Kliziene et al., 2018) with sports games and Pilates (Klizas et al., 2012) were observed.

In line with the objectives pursued by the studies, the studies that aimed to describe self-esteem values without a specific intervention showed a more holistic approach to students since they measured aspects related to different spheres of life such as biological (BMI, gender and oxygen consumption); social (family structure and socioeconomic level); academic (reading and mathematics) or habits (physical activity, Mediterranean diet, quality of life and hours of sleep) (Boraita et al., 2023; Knox & Muros, 2017; Russo et al., 2019; Tremblay et al., 2000). These findings are consistent with Fox (2000) and Dale et al. (2019) who allude to the direct influence of physical activity on self-esteem. However, studies that planned programmes aimed at working on self-esteem through school physical activity had a more psychosocial focus, addressing variables such as psychosocial adjustment, mastery, life satisfaction, anxiety, stress, mindfulness, mental health and self-control (Andrade et al., 2020; Kang & Kim, 2023; Klizas et al., 2012; Kliziene et al., 2018; Theocharidou et al., 2018; Zandi et al., 2021), in addition to self-esteem and physical activity. These findings are close to approaches based on the need to plan physical activity not only in the motor aspect, but also seeking an improvement in psychosocial aspects (Bailey, 2017; Benítez-Sillero et al., 2021; DeBate & Thompson, 2005; Lubans et al., 2012; Navarro-Patón et al., 2019; Yook et al., 2017).

On the other hand, coinciding with Fox (2000), there are few studies that address physical activity at school and its possibilities for the "self" (self-esteem, self-image, self-perception). An increase in this type of work would facilitate the creation of educational contexts that guarantee successful experiences in this sense, as previous studies have shown (Hosogi et al., 2012).

The results of this study should be considered with some caution due to a series of limitations. In this sense, and as mentioned above, it is necessary to insist on the scarcity of literature that deals with the measurement and/or use of physical activity programmes in the educational context to improve self-esteem in primary and secondary school pupils. On the other hand, it is necessary to point out the fact that many studies succinctly describe the activities proposed in the programme, which prevents the replication of the experiences presented and, therefore, more studies in this sense. The diversity of instruments and variables involved in the different research studies is a determining factor here, an aspect that can make it difficult to incorporate or compare the work included in the study. Likewise, and continuing with the limitations, we can point out the language aspect (studies in English, Spanish and Portuguese have been taken into account) or the exclusion of educational stages that differ from Primary or Secondary Education.

It is necessary for future research to continue to advance in the study of the variables that occupy the study, both individually and jointly. This could be done by broadening the search by language, including more educational stages or even non-formal and informal educational settings. It would also be of interest to carry out searches that encompass different psychosocial variables with physical activity, in order to find out the influence of the latter on other psychological and relational aspects of pupils. Likewise, a detailed study of different physical activities could be undertaken, according to their categorization, in order to find out the influence of each of them on the psychosocial variables of interest.

Conclusions

Several conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this study. Firstly, after identifying and analysing the studies that relate physical activity at school age and self-esteem, it can be concluded that physical activity at school age has a positive influence on students' self-esteem. Likewise, studies that combine a psychosocial approach with physical activity, and that also plan physical activity to influence psychosocial variables, have an influence on students' self-esteem and well-being. Likewise, studies that focus on the description of different spheres of life, taking physical activity as a reference point, show higher values and values closer to well-being in students who practise physical activity than in those who do not.

The main practical application of the study carried out lies in describing and presenting a scenario to the scientific and educational community about the state of the question. All this can allow Physical Education teachers to learn about the work already carried out, develop programmes, plan actions and measure the activities carried out in the educational environment in order to continue describing and providing knowledge of the influence exerted by physical activity on psychosocial variables in general, and on self-esteem in particular, in favour of pupils with greater biopsychosocial well-being.

Ethics Committee Statement

Not applicable

Conflict of Interest Statement

The funding agencies or institutions had no influence on the design of the study, the analysis of the data or the interpretation of the results.

Funding

This research did not receive funding.

Authors' Contribution

Conceptualization J.M. & R.F.; Methodology J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Software J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Validation J.M. & R.F.; Formal Analysis J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Investigation J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Resources J.M. & R.F.; Data Curation J.M. & R.F.; Writing – Original Draft J.M. & R.F.; Writing – Review & Editing M.T; Visualization J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Supervision J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Project Administration J.M., R.F. & M.T.; Funding Acquisition J.M., R.F. & M.T.

Data Availability Statement

Data available from articles indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed, Eric and PsycInfo.

References

Author notes

^a Correspondence: Rafael Francisco Caracuel Cáliz, rafaelfrancisco.caracuelcaliz@unir.net, rafaelfrancisco.caracuel@professor.universidadviu.com

Additional information

Short title:: Influence of Physical Activity on Self-Esteem in the Educational Setting

How to cite this article:: Armada-Crespo, J.M., Caracuel-Caliz, R.F., & Abad Robles, M.T. (2025). The influence of physical activity on self-esteem in the educational context: a systematic review. Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte, 20(63), 2224. https://doi.org/10.12800/ccd.v20i63.2224