Nutrition and education. I. Educational achievement and anthropometric parameters of Chilean elementary and high school graduates

Abstract

The objective of this study was to correlate the educational achievement (EA) of elementary and high school graduates with their nutritional status measured through anthropometric parameters. A random sample of 550 adolescent schoolers from the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile, graduating from elementary and high school (1:1) was chosen. The sample included schoolers of both sexes (1:1) from public and private schools (1:1) and from high, medium and low socioeconomic status (SES) (1:1:1). Anthropometric measurements were compared with NCHS, Tanner and Frisancho Tables. EA was measured by means of Achievement Evaluation Program (AEP) and Academic Aptitude Test (AAT) in elementary and high school graduates, respectively. In elementary school graduates, results showed a significant and positive correlation between EA (AEP) and the percentage of height/age, head circumference/age, weight/age, arm circumference/age, triceps skinfold/age and arm fat area/age and negative with upper to lower segment ratio (Multiple r = .363 p less than .01; r2 = .132). In high school graduates, EA (AAT) was found significantly and positively correlated only with the percentage of height/age and weight/age (Multiple r = .366 p less than .01; r2 = .134). In both educational levels, the percentage of height/age was the nutritional parameter with the greatest explanatory power in EA variance. In the present study, the interrelationships found between educational achievement and nutritional status are closely related with socioeconomic-sociocultural factors, being codeterminants of both. Anthropometric parameters that indicate past-nutritional status explained better EA decreasing their explanatory power from elementary to high school graduates, probably because more deprivated schoolers have deserted from the Educational System