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

Table 4 Longitudinal associations between skipping breakfast aged 8-9 years and national standardized test (Year-5 NAPLAN) results (N = 2158)

NAPLAN variable and category of skipping breakfast			Model 1^b	Model 2^c	Model 3^d
NAPLAN variable and category of skipping breakfast	n	Mean ± SD^a	Diff (95% CI)^e	Diff (95% CI)^e	Diff (95% CI)^e
Reading
Never skipped	1923	520 ± 79.4	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	227	510 ± 82.1	−15.3 (−27.2, −3.3)	−10.7 (−21.4, 0.02)	−9.2 (−19.7, 1.3)
P-value			0.01	0.05	0.09
Writing
Never skipped	1904	502 ± 69.2	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	225	500 ± 64.1	−6.2 (−15.5, 3.1)	−2.1 (−10.8, 6.5)	−0.8 (−9.5, 7.9)
P-value			0.19	0.63	0.86
Spelling
Never skipped	1922	502 ± 65.8	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	227	496 ± 69.1	−10.3 (−20.8, 0.2)	−7.4 (−17.2, 2.5)	−6.0 (−15.8, 3.8)
P-value			0.05	0.14	0.23
Grammar
Never skipped	1922	528 ± 79.2	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	227	520 ± 93.8	−17.4 (−31.8, −3.0)	−12.8 (−25.7, 0.1)	−10.7 (−23.6, 2.1)
P-value			0.02	0.05	0.10
Numeracy
Never skipped	1917	513 ± 70.5	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)	0.00 (ref)
≥ 1 skips	227	502 ± 84.1	−18.6 (−32.7, −4.5)	−14.2 (−26.9, −1.6)	−13.0 (−25.6, −0.8)
P-value			0.01	0.03	0.04

NAPLAN National Assessment Program – Literacy And Numeracy, SES socioeconomic status
^aValues are the unadjusted mean ± SD score for each domain of the NAPLAN assessments. Possible score range 0-1000, higher scores indicate better academic performance
^bModel 1: adjusted for age and sex
^cModel 2: adjusted for age, sex and SES (measured at Wave 3)
^dModel 3: Model 2 plus the following additional covariates: Reading – smoking status of primary caregiver; Writing – smoking status of primary caregiver, self-reported health of primary caregiver; Spelling smoking status of primary caregiver, two-parent home status; Grammar – smoking status of primary caregiver, financial hardship; Numeracy – smoking status of primary caregiver
^eDifferences between breakfast skippers and breakfast eaters were calculated using linear regression

ISSN: 2055-0928