Skipping breakfast among 8-9 year old children is associated with teacher-reported but not objectively measured academic performance two years later

Table 2 Longitudinal associations between skipping breakfast aged 8-9 years and teacher-reported academic performance aged 10-11 years (N = 1924)

Outcome and category of skipping breakfast	Above average^a	Average^a	Below average^a	Model 1^b	Model 2^c	Model 3^d
Outcome and category of skipping breakfast	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	RR (95% CI)	RR (95% CI)	RR (95% CI)
Reading progress
Never skipped	760 (44.5)	694 (40.6)	254 (14.9)	1.00 (ref)	1.00 (ref)	1.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	77 (37.4)	90 (43.7)	39 (18.9)	1.15 (1.05, 1.26)	1.14 (1.05, 1.24)	1.18 (1.08, 1.29)
P-value				0.002	0.002	0.001
Mathematics progress
Never skipped	705 (41.6)	748 (44.2)	241 (14.2)	1.00 (ref)	1.00 (ref)	1.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	79 (38.5)	88 (42.9)	38 (18.5)	1.11 (1.01, 1.22)	1.11 (1.03, 1.22)	1.11 (1.02, 1.20)
P-value				0.024	0.011	0.017
Overall achievement
Never skipped	732 (43.0)	777 (45.7)	192 (11.3)	1.00 (ref)	1.00 (ref)	---^e
≥ 1 skips	80 (38.6)	93 (44.9)	34 (16.4)	1.14 (1.04, 1.25)	1.15 (1.05, 1.25)	---^e
P-value				0.007	0.002

^aComparisons are to other children of the same grade level, calculated using log-link ordinal regression. Below average = below/far below average; Above average = above/far above average
^bModel 1: adjusted for sex and age at time of the parent interview
^cModel 2: adjusted for sex, age at time of the parent interview and SES (measured at Wave 3)
^dModel 3: Model 2 plus the following additional covariates reading progress – teacher reported prosocial behavior at W4; mathematics progress – financial hardship
^eThere was no model 3 for overall achievement as none of the additional covariates changed the coefficient of the covariate for skipping breakfast by at least 10%

ISSN: 2055-0928