How Body Weight Shapes Academic Success

• In Event: Causes and Consequences of Excess Body Weight

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the relationship between relative body size and academic achievement. Obese children have lower test scores than non-overweight weight peers, but the extent to which this relationship arises through biological or psychological and social channels is not fully understood. Obesity is linked to a variety of chronic health conditions which may hinder learning. In this case, it is likely a student’s absolute body size that predicts achievement.  The social environment of the classroom and schoolyard may therefore play an independent role in shaping the relationship between body weight and academic outcomes, above and beyond any direct physiological effects. At the same time, obese and overweight children may have lower self-confidence or may be victimized by peers, each of which may be detrimental to academic achievement. In this case, a student’s body size relative to his grade mates within school may be most salient. Existing research found that children who have a higher relative body mass index compared to other children in the same Metropolitan Statistical Area exhibit more behavioral problems, conditional on absolute body mass index.  We will build on this work and our own study examining relative height and academic outcomes to explore the links between absolute and relative body size and academic achievement. Using detailed administrative data from New York City, we exploit the within school/grade variation in the distribution of body mass index to examine the links between academic outcomes and body size, distinguishing between absolute measures (i.e., body mass index) and relative measures (i.e., body mass index rank within the relevant peer group). We explore heterogeneity across gender, race and ethnicity, and age, and we also consider alternative definitions of peer group. By disentangling the roles of absolute and relative body size, this study aims to inform both the academic literature on the determinants of educational achievement and the design of school-based interventions targeting the consequences of childhood obesity.

Author

• Amy Ellen Schwartz, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author