Associations between obesity and academic enthusiasm and social emotional competence: Moderating effects of gender and sleep quality

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to report if there is a difference in obesity according to the gender and sleep quality of primary school students. The participants of this study were 2,607 primary school students in the 4^th grade shown in the 2018 (Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey) data. The results of this study are as follows: First, obesity showed a difference according to gender, and there was no difference in terms of sleep quality according to obesity. Second, obesity impacts academic enthusiasm, aggression, and attention of primary school students. In contrast, it was shown that obesity did not impact children’s physical symptoms and self-esteem. Third, according to gender, the associations between obesity and social emotional development and self-esteem were different except for primary school children’s academic enthusiasm, attention, and aggressions. Fourth, sleep quality showed a moderating effect on the social emotional development, including the relationship between obesity and academic enthusiasm and self-esteem.

KEYWORDS:

• Obesity
• primary school students
• academic enthusiasm
• social emotional development
• self-esteem

Declaration of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.