title: Cognitive and behavioural effects of a school breakfast.
abstract: The cognitive and behavioural effects of a school breakfast were explored in a study of 55 children in Grade II and Standard 1 at a farm school outside Johannesburg. A previous study had confirmed widespread undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among the children. For comparative purposes, 55 children at an inner-city school, among whom no signs of undernutrition were found, were assessed in the same way. Three different types of measures of attention, distractibility, short-term memory and activity level were used: psychometric testing of the children; teacher ratings of children's classroom behaviour, and coded video-recorded classroom behaviour. A pre- and post-test design was employed to assess the effects of a school breakfast, continually in place in the experimental school for a period of 6 weeks. The results indicated significant change from pre- to post-test assessment among the experimental children in respect of the psychometric measures, teacher-rated hyperactivity and video-recorded classroom behaviour. With regard to the latter measure, the children showed a decline in both the occurrence and duration of off-task and out-of-seat behaviour, and an increase in active participation in class and positive peer interaction. While the children in the comparison group also showed some changes from pre- to post-test, probably attributable to the effects of observation, familiarity with the test materials and developmental change, the changes were not generalised or consistent. The findings support the conclusion that a school breakfast programme had a beneficial effect on the cognitive and behavioural performance of socially disadvantaged, undernourished children in their first 2 years of school.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Griesel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa