美国新近的一项调查研究显示， 儿童期肥胖不仅会妨碍儿童学业表现，而且会对儿童的情感状态和社交能力的发展构成危害。这项研究最近发表在《Child Development》杂志，请看CBC的详细报道。

 

Obesity may harm child's grades

 

CBC News

 

Posted: Jun 15, 2012 5:05 PM ET

 

Children who were obese scored lower on math tests than their peers of normal weight, a new U.S. study suggests.

Obesity during childhood and the teen years tracks into adulthood, increasing the risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Obesity that lasts throughout grade school can harm children's social and emotional well-being and academic performance. (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)

Now researchers have followed 6,250 children from kindergarten through fifth grade and found that those who were obese over that time scored lower on math tests than non-obese children.

At five points in the study, parents gave information about their families such as income, teachers reported on the children's interpersonal skills and emotional well-being, and children were weighed and measured and took academic tests.

In children who started with kindergarten with weight problems, differences in math performance started in first grade and lasted through fifth grade, the researchers said in this week’s issue of the journal Child Development.

"Our study suggests that childhood obesity, especially obesity that persists throughout the elementary grades, can harm children's social and emotional well-being and academic performance," the study's lead author, Sara Gable, an associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said in a release.

The association between obesity and test scores was weaker — or nonexistent, in the case of boys — if the children became obese in the third or fifth grade, rather than kindergarten.

Overall, the findings fit in with other studies suggesting a link between student obesity and academic achievement.

Social skills suffer

Obese students generally showed more emotional difficulties than their non-obese counterparts, and obese girls showed poorer social skills.

"It is possible that children with weight problems do more poorly in school because their social skills and peer relationships are compromised," the study's authors wrote.

"Determining how teachers and other adult caregivers, including parents, respond to children's weight problems is relevant to obesity prevention and intervention efforts."

The researchers weren’t able to account for child puberty, which they called a limitation. Since the children were only followed to age 11, they weren’t able to tell whether academic performance suffered in higher grades.

They suggested further study to evaluate what else could affect weight and academic performance, such as poor sleep quality, asthma and diabetes that are associated with child obesity by interfering with the learning in class.

转载本文请联系原作者获取授权，同时请注明本文来自王汉森科学网博客。
链接地址：https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-5414-582708.html

上一篇：看Nik Wallenda跨越尼亚加拉大瀑布
下一篇：玫瑰（一）