Teachers perceive children of overweight mums as being less academic

New Irish research has shown that the body mass index (BMI) of a child’s mother may influence teachers’ perceptions of the academic ability of that child.

Research carried out by a team from NUI Galway and Queens University Belfast has found evidence that parental obesity influences teachers' perceptions of a child's academic ability. The study showed that children whose mums were obese were more likely to be judged as being below average in reading and maths by their teacher, compared to those whose mothers were slimmer. Other variables such as the child's gender, mothers' education and income levels, and teachers' gender and experience, were also found to have an impact on how ability is perceived. The research team used data collected from the Growing up in Ireland Survey, a large-scale study of over 8500 children from 900 Irish schools. Their findings are consistent with other studies that have shown that obese women are disadvantaged in various aspects of their life. Dr Michelle Queally, a post-doctoral researcher in health economics at NUI Galway, says the results are potentially worrying:

"The study found a significant relationship between a mother’s BMI and the probability of the child's ability being assessed as below average by their teacher. This is potentially worrisome and clearly indicates the need for further research."

Dr Queally and her colleagues note that the findings have long-term educational implications with regards to the role of teachers in examination marking:

"Other findings of the study show that boys, for example, are more likely to be rated as below average in reading and girls are more likely to be rated as below average by teachers in maths. The size of the marginal effect for girls is 0.02, while that for a mother’s BMI is 0.003. In other words a 10 point increase in BMI, moving someone from normal to obese, for example, would be roughly equivalent in terms of its impact on the probability of being assessed as below average as would the child being female."