- Poor peer relationships may be a contributing factor to poor performance on math tests, according to Sara Gable, an associate professor and state extension specialist in nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri, in Columbia.
- The study, which used data from 6,250 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, calculated body-mass index.
- Interpersonal relationships and standardized math tests were also considered.
From the article:
Youngsters who are persistently overweight may not perform as well academically -- specifically in math -- as their normal-weight peers, new research suggests.
Although the study didn't find a direct cause-and-effect relationship between being overweight or obese and school performance, the researchers did find that children who started kindergarten carrying extra weight and were still heavy when they finished fifth grade performed worse on math tests. ...