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Intelligence test performance in obesity in relation to educational attainment and parental Social Class

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

T. I. A. Sørensen  and
S. Sonne-Holm
T. I. A. Sørensen
Affiliation:
Obesity Research Group, Herlev University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
S. Sonne-Holm
Affiliation:
Obesity Research Group, Herlev University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Summary

In the population of 242,633 draftees examined in the Copenhagen area for the period 1956–77, 1143 were extremely overweight. Compared to 2123 controls, selected at random from the remaining draftee population, the obese had a lower educational attainment, even at each level of intelligence test score. Conversely, at each educational level, the obese did not differ from the controls in intelligence test score. When taking into account, by regression analysis, both intelligence test score and parental social class, the chance for the obese of exceeding the educational level of minimum years of schooling followed by elementary trade training increased from 37% to only 52% of that for the controls. The results suggest that obesity, irrespective of social origin, is associated with poor educational attainment which may be responsible for the cognitive deficiency manifested in lower intelligence test scores.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 1985 , pp. 379 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © 1985, Cambridge University Press

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