SubscribeOverweight: A New Reason To Skip School
A study of over a thousand children demonstrated that overweight children were absent 20% more than normal weight children. What was interesting about the study is that the absenteeism was not related to “being sick.”
According to researcher, Andrew B Geier, the children were avoiding school due to “the stigma and the bullying that accompanies being overweight.”
Sadly, overweight children not only have to deal with the physical issues of being overweight, but often the psychological challenges can be much harder to endure.
As the article points out, children who miss more school are “ more likely to use drugs, get pregnant and do less well academically.”
Researchers suggested that being overweight was a stronger predictor of absenteeism than age, race, socioeconomic status and gender.
Hopefully, schools will someday enact zero-tolerance for all and any acts of bullying, so these kids can have one less obstacle to hurdle.
But the study was done only in "all inner city children, 80% of which were eligible for free and reduced-cost meal plans".
I work in an upperclass suburban public school and there are many overweight children there as well. Looking at my attendance records (I teach roughly 400 of the schools 600 students) I don't see a connection to weight and absenteeism at all in my school.
This study is not an all encompassing study for all overweight children. "Researchers suggested that being overweight was a stronger predictor of absenteeism than age, race, socioeconomic status and gender"
How can they make that comment, when they are studying only one socioeconomic group?
Reply"More likely to...do less well academically?" I got a chuckle out of this because it was the complete opposite for me. I did extremely well in school my whole life, but that was mainly due to wanting to "hide emotionally" from most of my peers, so I hid in my books. AND, I had nearly perfect attendance through elementary, middle, and high school.
Also, they looked at 4th-6th graders. I started receiving sex ed in 5th grade. As an overweight child, I was really shy about my body image and loathed going to these classes. Puberty is a hard time to begin with, especially with hormones and body changes, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was replicated in high school students there could/would be different findings. Dawn also makes a very valid point.
ReplyI was bullied all through my school years at a Catholic school. The kids there would torment me everyday, and forget about gym class, I couldn't bear it. During my highschool years in a public school I felt more accepted, there were other overweight kids besides me. I still cry when those old feelings resurface. Kids are cruel and the main reason why is that the parents are the same way. I taught my three children not to make fun of ANYONE different, and I hope they will teach their children the same.
ReplyIt could also be that kids who have a worse home life are both more likely to have a high BMI and be absent. That is, I don't necessarily accept that overweight leads to high absence rate.
Replybeing overweight is hard it is so hard to lose weight it is as well hard to diet and keep from eating as much
ReplyI hope parents take notice of articles such as this. I teach middle school which is already tough enough for the average kid who doesn't have a weight problem. These overweight kids are in a terrible cycle: they don't participate in PE and continue to eat junk food on a daily basis. The parents really need to help their kids at a younger age eat better and stay active. I really can't blame the kids. There is no reason for a 12 year-old to have the gut of a 40 year-old man. Parents are the solution.
ReplyI was an overweight teen and I had nearly perfect attendance and straight A's for grades. Mostly, that was because I wasn't active in sports or anything so I threw myself into my studying. I don't think it's a very complete study...they need to study more age groups, different school districts, etc. There could be a lot of other factors causing these kids to "be sick" and miss school other than just being overweight.
ReplyI dont think schools should measure students bmi's
ReplyI hope that parents will realize how obesity is affecting their children physically and psychologically. I believe that this wouldn't be a problem if parents are concerned and well informed about it.
ReplyYeah, I hope parents read it too so they know junk science when they read it. I could see it with kids who are very obese and females at the middle school age and older who aren't skin and bone.
I'm sure anyone could create a study to rebuke that. It would probably be blown out of the water by doing a study that involves wannabe Sumo wrestlers. What about high school football players who play on the line?
I've was a victim of a few bullies who were fat.
"However, this research suggests that being overweight was an even stronger predictor of poor school attendance than any of the other four more traditional predictors."
Total B.S. I'm not surprised considering where the studies were done. Their research is most likely a lie if any of it was done in Philadelphia. If wouldn't be politically correct for them to mention if any of these kids were from the black community where over 70% of the kids come from single parent homes.
It's another attempt to cover up the real problem in one of the worst public school systems in America. At least Jesse will be proud of the results.
ReplyI agree that bullying would definitely be one of the toughest things to have to deal with...
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