Childhood Obesity and Academic Outcomes in Young Adulthood.

Igor Ryabov

doi:10.3390/children5110150

Abstract

The present study used nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (a.k.a., Add Health) to examine the impact of childhood obesity on young adult educational attainment. In addition to weight status, independent variables included race–ethnicity, immigrant generational status, family socio-economic status (SES), preference for overweight and obese friends in school, school socio-economic and race–ethnic composition, and other important predictors. Educational attainment was measured as a categorical variable with the categories reflecting key educational benchmarks: (1) being a high school graduate; (2) having some college education; and (3) having completed a bachelor’s or higher degree. The results indicate that in general, individuals who were obese as children are less likely to transition from high school to college, and even less likely to obtain a baccalaureate or more advanced degree. In line with the social network hypothesis of the obesity epidemic, we also found that having overweight and obese friends drives down the odds of educational success. Attendance at a higher SES school or a school with a lower percentage of minority students was positively associated with the odds of college attendance and obtaining a baccalaureate. Other important effects included race–ethnicity and immigrant generational status.

Highlights

Childhood obesity has become a major public health concern in the United States, with its prevalence having tripled over the last three decades
The cross-tabulation of race–ethnicity and weight status reveals that non-Hispanic whites comprise the majority of respondents in all of the weight status categories, African-Americans and Latinos are overrepresented among the overweight and obese
We found that the odds of having some college education and of holding a baccalaureate or more advanced degree are noticeably lower for respondents who were obese as children than for those who were of a healthy weight

Summary

Introduction

Childhood obesity has become a major public health concern in the United States, with its prevalence having tripled over the last three decades. Influenced by the executive function hypothesis, a theoretical framework that links physical exercise in adults with performance on executive function tasks [19,20], several studies found evidence that excessive weight in adults inhibits their cognition [21,22,23]. The existing evidence tends to suggest that overweight and obese youth perform worse in school that their healthy-weight counterparts, the number of studies is limited, their individual power is low (i.e., small sample sizes), and they lack extensive controls [26]. This research is almost exclusively cross-national in nature, which means that a long-term impact of childhood obesity on adult educational attainment remains underexamined

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion