Obesity, school performance and behaviour of black, urban elementary school children

Nutritional status, school performance and behaviour were assessed in a group of black, inner-city school children. Thirty-five per cent of the children were obese by triceps skinfold thickness criteria. The primary care taker's responses to the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the hyperactivity subscale of the Conners' Parent's Questionnaire indicated that the obese children were more likely to have abnormal scores. On the CBCL subscale scores, obese girls had a significantly higher 'sex problems' score. Although the other subscale scores were not significantly different, there was a significant trend for obese boys and girls to score higher on the CBCL subscale scores. In addition, the proportion of obese children placed in special education or remedial class settings was twice that for non-obese children. These results add to the limited information available concerning obese black children, and are consistent with previous findings suggesting subtle behaviour differences in obese children.