The Association of Lifestyle Determinants and Body Mass Index with School Achievement of Ninth Grade Students in the District of Tulkarm, Palestine

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the impact of some lifestyle determinants and body mass index on school achievement of ninth grade students in the district of Tulkarm and study the factors associated with them. The study was carried out on 781 ninth grade students (407 females, 374 males) attending governmental schools of the district. The data were collected via personal interviews. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Fisher’s exact test were employed in the analyses. The results showed that 62.9% of the students (46.7% of females, 80.6% of males) take breakfast before going to school, but no relationship was found with school achievement. Of all interviewed students, 27% (29% of females, 24.7% of males) suffered from low concentration in the first three lessons. Low concentration in class was associated with skipping breakfast, smoking, non-daily consumption of fruits, tiredness, psychological stress at school, and waking up late and was associated with poor school achievement. Daily consumption of fruits improved student scores in Technology, English language, and the overall average. Students suffering from psychological stress at home had lower average scores than their peers in some subjects and overall average. About 6% of male students were smokers (none of the females declared smoking) and smoking was associated with low school achievement. About 72% of students (82.5% of females, 61.5% of males) don’t receive any help from their parents in their lessons and homeworks and these students achieved higher scores in all subjects (except General Science) than those who received assistance. About 32% of students had average night sleeping hours of 8 to 9 hours per day and these students had higher scores in General Science and Technology, as well as overall average than students sleeping less than 8 hours or more than 9 hours. There were no differences in school achievement between students with regard to eating lunch and dinner, BMI status, weekly physical activity, daily time spent watching TV, daily time spent using computer and method of transport. These results should raise awareness among students and parents for the need to follow healthy lifestyle such as eating breakfast and focus on eating fruits daily, to avoid smoking, to have good sleep-wake up habits, to have enough family time and avoid factors which cause stress to students