The role of formal schooling on weight in young children

Abstract

Aim: This study examined whether children's exposure to formal schooling has an impact on their weight-related health outcomes, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class "of 1998-1999. Methods: Considering that children, at similar ages, may have one more or less year of schooling based on their birthdates and school's cut-off dates for Kindergarten enrollment, this natural experimental study compared weight-related health outcomes of the treatment group (children whose birth dates were within three months before the cut-off) and that of the comparison group (children whose birth dates were within three months after the cut-off) using the OLS regression. Results: Formal schooling significantly reduced the risk of being obese for initially obese children at the beginning of Kindergarten and did not bring about excessive weight gain problems for initially non-obese children. The beneficial effect of schooling, in reducing recurrent obesity/overweight, was concentrated in boys, Whites, and children who attended schools in states that adopted policies following national or state PE standards, while the adverse effect of schooling, in developing obesity/overweight, was on children who attended school with poor peers and children of the third quintile SES families. Conclusions: School-based anti-obesity strategies should be targeted to more susceptible children and schools serving disadvantaged children.