1. ^*Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2. ^†Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3. ^‡Center for Obesity Research and Education, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. ^§Nutrition Education Program, Part of the Division of Health, Safety, Physical Education, and Sports Administration, School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5. ^¶The Food Trust, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Correspondence: Gary D. Foster Temple University, Center for Obesity Research and Education, 3223 N. Broad St., Suite 175, Philadelphia, PA 19140. E-mail: gfoster@temple.edu

^*The costs of publication of this article were defrayed, in part, by the payment of page charges. This article must, therefore, be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 6 December 2006; Revised  0000; Accepted 25 January 2007.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between relative weight and school attendance among elementary schoolchildren.

Research Methods and Procedures: A total of 1069 fourth to sixth graders from nine elementary schools in the inner city of Philadelphia, PA, were part of an ongoing randomized control trial to assess prevention strategies for obesity. The mean rate of students eligible for free/reduced meals was 82.9 11.5% . Weight was measured in the second semester of the academic year. Absentee data for the entire academic year were recorded by homeroom teachers. Participants were classified into relative weight categories described by the Institute of Medicine: underweight, normal-weight, overweight, and obese.

Results: ANOVA showed that overweight children were absent significantly more than normal-weight children (12.2 11.7 days vs.10.1 10.5 days) (p < 0.05). Linear regression showed that the obese category remained a significant contributor to the number of days absent even after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and gender.

Discussion: These data suggest that in addition to the medical and psychosocial consequences of being overweight, heavier children have greater risk for school absenteeism than their normal-weight peers. As the rate of childhood obesity increases, parallel increases in school absenteeism should be expected.