Health and Academics

At a glance

  • Research shows a strong connection between healthy behaviors and academic achievement.
  • School programs that involve the student, family, school, and community can have a positive impact on students.
  • Academic achievement offers a lifetime of health benefits.
Four students at a table, open books in front of them. Two students in the middle are talking to each other.

Why it's important

Recent research shows that higher academic grades are associated with more positive individual and cumulative health behaviors among high school students. However, youth risk behaviors are consistently linked to poor grades and test scores, and lower educational attainment. These risk behaviors include physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary behaviors, tobacco use, alcohol use, and other drug use.

Schools can use the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework to promote positive health behaviors and reduce negative health behaviors. Schools working with community organizations and other public or private partnerships can also reduce inequalities in educational achievement and health outcomes.

School programs that account for the student, family, school, and community can positively influence both student health behaviors and learning. To close the academic achievement gap and promote health equity, school health programs and services should be:

  • Evidence-based.
  • Effectively coordinated.
  • Strategically planned.

Research on health and academics

Research shows a strong connection between healthy behaviors and academic achievement (such as grades, standardized tests, graduation rates, attendance). Data from the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) reveal the prevalence of health behaviors among children and adolescents. Such health behaviors can have a significant impact on learning and a lifetime of healthier living.

2019 YRBS Fact Sheets

Explore: 2019 YRBS Questions-Tables-Graphs

Resources

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Content Source:
Division of Adolescent and School Health; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Promoting Positive Adolescent Health Behaviors and Outcomes: Thriving in the 21st Century. National Academies Press; 2020. Accessed September 25, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17226/25552
  • Basch CE. Healthier students are better learners: high-quality, strategically planned, and effectively coordinated school health programs must be a fundamental mission of schools to help close the achievement gap. J Sch Health. 2011;81(10):650–662.
  • Michael SL, Merlo CL, Basch CE, Wentzel KR, Wechsler H. Critical connections: health and academics. J Sch Health. 2015;85(11):740–758.
  • Bradley BJ, Greene AC. Do health and education agencies in the United States share responsibility for academic achievement and health? A review of 25 years of evidence about the relationship of adolescents' academic achievement and health behaviors. J Adolesc Health. 2013;52(5):523–532.
  • Busch V, Loyen A, Lodder M, et al. The effects of adolescent health-related behavior on academic performance: a systematic review of the longitudinal evidence. Rev Educ Res. 2014;84(2):245–274.
  • Basch CE. Healthier students are better learners: a missing link in school reforms to close the achievement gap. J Sch Health. 2011;81(10):593–598.
  • Rasberry CN, Tiu GF, Kann L, et al. Health-related behaviors and academic achievement among high school students, United States—2015. MMWR Morbid Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017;66(35):921–927.
  • Hawkins GT, Lee SH, Michael SL, et al. Individual and collective positive health behaviors and academic achievement among U.S. high school students, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2017. Am J Health Promot. 2022;36(4):651–661.
  • Liburd LC. After the bell rings: looking beyond the classroom to reduce inequalities in educational achievement and health outcomes. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2019;25(6):581–583.
  • Hahn RA, Truman BI. Education improves public health and promotes health equity. Int J Health Serv. 2015;45(4):657–678.