OBESITY, SCHOOL PERFORMANCE AND BEHAVIOR 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 pr imary care taker's responses to the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) an d the hyperactivity subscale of the Conners' Parent's Questionnaire in dicated that the obese children were more likely to have abnormal scor es. On the CBCL subscale scores, obese girls had a significantly highe r 'sex problems' score. Although the other subscale scores were not si gnificantly different, there was a significant trend for obese boys an d girls to score higher on the CBCL subscale scores. In addition, the proportion of obese children placed in special education or remedial c lass 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.