Childhood Overweight and Academic Performance: National Study of Kindergartners and First‐Graders

Abstract

DATAR, ASHLESHA, ROLAND STURM, AND JENNIFER L. MAGNABOSCO. Childhood overweight and academic performance: national study of kindergartners and first-graders. Obes Res. 2004;12:58 -68. Objective: To examine the association between children's overweight status in kindergarten and their academic achievement in kindergarten and first grade. Research Methods and Procedures:The data analyzed consisted of 11,192 first time kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative sample of kindergartners in the U.S. in 1998. Multivariate regression techniques were used to estimate the independent association of overweight status with children's math and reading standardized test scores in kindergarten and grade 1. We controlled for socioeconomic status, parent-child interaction, birth weight, physical activity, and television watching. Results: Overweight children had significantly lower math and reading test scores compared with nonoverweight children in kindergarten. Both groups were gaining similarly on math and reading test scores, resulting in significantly lower test scores among overweight children at the end of grade 1. However, these differences, except for boys' math scores at baseline (difference ϭ 1.22 points, p ϭ 0.001), became insignificant after including socioeconomic and behavioral variables, indicating that overweight is a marker but not a causal factor. Race/ethnicity and mother's education were stronger predictors of test score gains or levels than overweight status. Discussion: Significant differences in test scores by overweight status at the beginning of kindergarten and the end of grade 1 can be explained by other individual characteristics, including parental education and the home environment. However, overweight is more easily observable by other students compared with socioeconomic characteristics, and its significant (unadjusted) association with worse academic performance can contribute to the stigma of overweight as early as the first years of elementary school.

Childhood intelligence, educational attainment and adult body mass index: findings from a prospective cohort and within sibling-pairs analysis

“…Although not a direct measure of intelligence, in one further prospective study school learning difficulties and poor performance in school exams were associated with a greater risk of being obese in young adulthood. 12 Three other prospective studies found that being overweight or obese in early childhood was associated with poor performance in school tests and assignments later in childhood, [13][14][15] though in one of these studies the association was attenuated to the null with adjustment for parental socioeconomic position. 13 In the Danish Military Survey the association between early life intelligence and later obesity attenuated to the null with adjustment for educational attainment and the authors concluded that education mediated the association between childhood intelligence and adult obesity.…”

“…12 Three other prospective studies found that being overweight or obese in early childhood was associated with poor performance in school tests and assignments later in childhood, [13][14][15] though in one of these studies the association was attenuated to the null with adjustment for parental socioeconomic position. 13 In the Danish Military Survey the association between early life intelligence and later obesity attenuated to the null with adjustment for educational attainment and the authors concluded that education mediated the association between childhood intelligence and adult obesity. 9 In addition to being affected by intelligence, educational attainment is also influenced by biological factors (e.g.…”

Maternal weight misperceptions and smoking are associated with overweight and obesity in low SES preschoolers

“…These chronic health conditions increase with time and are higher among males (Van Cleave et al, 2010). In addition, obese children as adults are also prone to psychological problems such as low selfesteem and depression (Sanchez-Villegas et al, 2010), while academic achievements of obese preschool and first grade children are lower (Datar et al, 2004;Taras and Potts-Datema, 2005).…”

Is the association between unhealthy weight and academic performance influenced by children’s physical activity level?

“…These results support findings from previous studies that looked into the effect of BMI on academic performance and verified that normal weight students showed better grades, better trends in reading scores, greater school attendance and better discipline when compared with overweight 2 and underweight 5 counterparts. Furthermore, children who were overweight from kindergarten to the end of 3 rd grade showed poor academic achievements and more behavioral problems 1 . However, no study has examined the association of both underweight and overweight and academic performance.…”

“…Besides the well-known deleterious effects of overweight on physical health, some studies have reported the association between high Body Mass Index (BMI) and low academic performance in children 1,2 .…”