The effects of Chinese archery arts program on core executive functions in elementary school children in Shanghai China : a quasi-experimental study​
Authors:   , Liu Jianjun 
Published: September 2023

Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate the effect of a 12-week Chinese archery art program on core executive functions in preadolescent children in Shanghai, China.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design was conducted in the present study. All 68 eligible participants were purposively assigned to a Chinese archery intervention group (45 minutes/session, 4 sessions/week, n=34) or extracurricular activity-based control group (45 minutes/session, 4 sessions/week, n=34); The whole study period included a 12-week treatment and a 6-week follow-up.

The primary outcome was the performance of core executive functions (inhibition control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility), assessed with psychological paradigms: Fish Flanker Task, N-Back Task, and Dimensional change card sort（DCCS border version）, respectively. The secondary outcomes included self-esteem, sleep quality, and anxiety/depression, evaluated with Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSRS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), respectively; Performance of core executive functions and global self-esteem scores, and sleep quality were analysed with a repeated measurement ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc analysis, paired T-test and independent T-test; Anxiety/depression scores were analysed by paired T-test and independent T-test. Both groups were evaluated at the baseline, 6th, 12th and 18th week time points.

Results: Considering reaction time, there was a considerable reduction in the performance of inhibition control (incongruent trials), working memory (1-back trials, 2-back trials), cognitive flexibility (color trials, shape trials, and border trials) within the intervention group after a 12-week Chinese archery art program. Moreover, compared with the control group, there was a significantly faster performance in working memory (1-back trials), cognitive flexibility (color trials, shape trials, and border trials) in intervention groups at 6th, 12th, 18th week time points.

Regarding accuracy, there were significant improvements in the performance of inhibition control (congruent trials), working memory (1-back trials, 2-back trials), and cognitive flexibility (shape trials, and border trials) within the intervention group after a 12-week Chinese archery art program. Additionally, significantly higher performance of inhibition control (congruent trials), working memory (2-back trials), and cognitive flexibility (shape trials, and border trials) was revealed in the intervention group than the control group at 6th, 12th, 18th week time points.

Meanwhile, there was an impressive improvement in self-esteem scores within the intervention group after a 12-week Chinese archery art program and between groups at the 6th, the 12th, and the 18th week time points; Similarly, A considerable benefit in the global sleep quality scores and anxiety/depression were supported within intervention group with a 12-week Chinese archery art program.

Conclusion: The finding concluded that a 12-week Chinese archery art program effectively benefits three subdomains (inhibition control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) of core executive functions, self-esteem, sleep quality, and anxiety/depression in average preadolescent children.