Consequences of Physical Health and Mental Illness Risks for Academic Achievement in Grades K–12

Abstract

Educational research, practice, and institutions regularly highlight the significance of factors outside of schooling that affect children's engagement and participation in classroom learning. However, they are less likely to intervene in issues that are described as nonacademic despite their clear relevance to students' academic experiences. The health of children and families is one such issue with implications for the quality of children's school experiences, treatment in school, and academic achievement. A focus on health concerns both identifiable risk factors (e.g., obesity) as well as less easily identified risks (e.g., eating disorders) that may serve as obstacles to children's engagement and challenge efforts to increase preventive health and health maintenance measures. In this review, we are concerned with risk(s) to children that results from educational and health disparities. We are similarly concerned with the intersection of these disparities and social inequalities that are embedded in them to students' academic achievement. The incidence and prevalence of these risks are often greater for children from ethnic minority groups; however, the problems that result from high-risk behaviors affect children across ethnic groups and income levels. Children who suffer from poor health early in their lives are placed in a precarious position of having descending academic trajectories and socioeconomic success that continue into their adulthood (Case, Fertig, & Paxson, 2005; Palloni, 2006; Palloni & Milesi, 2006). The preponderance of educational research on disparities in academic achievement tends to focus on familial and socioeconomic conditions (i.e., parental educational attainment, income, poverty status, and single-family household), student behaviors