School Breakfast and Academics

The authors designed this research to determine if a relationship exists between participation in a school breakfast program and measures of psychosocial and academic functioning in school-aged children.

Data collection included participation in a school breakfast program, school records, and in-depth interviews with parents and children prior to the implementation of a universally free (UF) breakfast program and again after the program had been in place for four months. One hundred thirty three low-income students were subjects. Teacher ratings of behavior before and after the UF breakfast program were also available for 76 students.

The students' grades in math, science, social studies, and reading and their absence and tardiness rates were collected for fall and spring terms. Letter grades were converted into numerical values based on a 4.0 grading system.

Schoolwide data showed that prior to the UF breakfast program, 240 (15%) of the 1627 students in the three schools were eating a school-supplied breakfast each day. Of the 133 students in the interview sample, 24 (18%) of the students ate a school-supplied breakfast often, 26 (20%) ate a school-supplied breakfast sometimes, and 83 (62%) ate a school-supplied breakfast rarely or never. Prior to the UF breakfast program, students who ate a school-supplied breakfast often or sometimes had significantly higher math scores and significantly lower scores on child-, parent-, and teacher-reported symptom questionnaires than children who ate a school-supplied breakfast rarely or never.

At the end of the school term, four months after the implementation of the UF breakfast program, school-supplied breakfast participation had nearly doubled. Students who increased their participation in the school breakfast program had significantly greater increases in their math grades and significantly greater decreases in the rates of school absences and tardiness than children whose participation remained the same or decreased. Child and teacher ratings of psychosocial problems also decreased to a significantly greater degree for children with increased participation in the school breakfast program.

(Murphy M et al. The relationship of school breakfast to psychosocial and academic functioning. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1998; 152:899-907)

COMMENT: This study provides strong evidence that higher rates of participation in school breakfast programs are associated, at least in the short-term, with improved student functioning on a broad range of psychosocial and academic measures. I guess Mother was right!