Association between Obesity and Academic Achievement in School going Children

Childhood obesity has a significant affect on physical, social and emotional health of children. In addition, it is also associated with negative self image and low self esteem. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between obesity and academic achievement in school children.

A total of 212, school children studying between 6th and 10th standard aged between 11 to 15 years were studied from two affluent schools of Allahabad city- Maharshi Patanjali Vidya Mandir and Tagore Public School. Children with body mass index above 95 percentile were considered as obese. 106 identified obese children as cases and 106 normal weight children as controls were selected. While selecting controls, it was kept in mind to maintain the similarity of age, gender and standard between case and control. Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), Math and English grades were recorded from the school register to evaluate academic achievement of children. Chi square test was used for statistical analysis.

Findings of the study reveal that obese girls (15.8% and 36.9%) significantly (p=0.04 and 0.01) secured “poor” grade compared to normal weight girls (2.4% and 23.3%) in both CGPA and math respectively. Conclusion: Obesity is found negatively associated with girls’ academic achievement whereas in boys no such association was observed.