Patterns of Growth and Scholastic Performance — A Case Study of the Associated Factors

Abstract

Though there are many studies comparing anthropometric measurements of children belonging to low socio- economic group with those of other studies and developed countries, studies are very few on children belonging to well-to-do communities (Banik 1982, Vijayaraghavan et al. 1971., Nutritional Foundation of India, Scientific Report No. 11, 1991, Rao and Sastry 1977, Reed and Stuart 1959, Hamill et al. 1977, Tanner et al. 1966). Earlier studies indicated that students of the well maintained public schools have better anthropometric measurements than those of other schools where most of the students belong to lower socio-economic status. Most of the children are found to have substantial retardation in measurements reflective of skeleton, muscle and fat. Studies on children of well-to-do families with good parental education are of interest. Also it is of interest to assess the association, if any, between grades of body built and scholastic performance. A small-scale study was carried out on school-age children and adolescents of well-to-do and lower middle class families in Hyderabad. An attempt was therefore made 1) to study the pattern of growth in children of different socio-economic status; 2) to assess whether a combination of anthropometric measurements or indices is better for evaluation of various grades of under nutrition based on body weight, and 3) to study the relative importance of nutritional status, socio-economic status and paternal nutritional status associated with scholastic performance of school-going and adolescent children.