Association of overweight with academic performance and social and behavioral problems: an update from the early childhood longitudinal study.
BACKGROUND
Childhood overweight is a condition that is prevalent within our society, affecting more and more children each year. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between child overweight and educational outcomes.


METHODS
Data are reported for 13,680 children in third grade from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a set of data designed and carried out by the US Department of Education. Students were individually administered reading and math assessments. Teachers reported how often students exhibited certain social skills and behaviors. A series of 1-way analyses of covariance and multivariate analysis of covariance was used.


RESULTS
Overweight children had significantly lower math and reading test scores compared with nonoverweight children in third grade. However, these differences became insignificant after including socioeconomic and maternal education variables. Third grade overweight girls had significantly more externalizing and internalizing problems as well as lower self-control scores than nonoverweight girls even after including socioeconomic and maternal education variables.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that how we deal with children's overweight may have implications for the future psychological health of a considerable proportion of US children.
Judge
Sharon
S
Department of Early Childhood, Speech Pathology and Special Education, Old Dominion University, 100 Child Study Center, Norfolk, VA 23529-4117, USA. sjudge@odu.edu
Jahns
Lisa
L
D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D050177:Overweight / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011932:Reading; D012737:Sex Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology