The Effect of Childhood Obesity on Academic Performance - Research Proposal Example

The paper 'The Effect of Childhood Obesity on Academic Performance' is a good example of an education research proposal.
The topic area for further research is obesity in children. Out of this topic area, a title for a research paper is posed as “Using the school and home as agents in controlling the effect of childhood obesity on academic performance”. Two research sub-questions that will solve the problem in the title are given as below:

1. Is low self-esteem resulting from stigmatization against obese children a reason for poor academic performance?
2. Does the absence of reinforcement in schools for stigmatized obese students have an effect on their academic performance?

Discussion on the topic

Obesity has been explained to be a health situation that comes with several negative effects on people who suffer it. Mostly, obesity is not viewed by the masses as a health problem and so referring to a person with obesity as a patient may be seen as a wrong. But Davis-Floyd (2001) explains that obesity is a health condition, which when not checked, can result in several other complicated health issues. Another line of research has shown that the issue of obesity is even worse when it is recorded in children. This is because of the number of health risks that obesity carries for these children (Wutzke et al, 2002). Generally, the effects associated with obesity in children can be categorized into several risk factors such as psychological, biological, social and economic (Engelstad, 2005). In often cases, the social effects or risks are carried into the academic performance of obese students because they are faced with stigmatization from their colleagues. In the three research questions posed above, there is an attempt to collect data to collectively answer the research problem.

The first question places emphasis on low self-esteem, emanating from stigmatization, bullying and teasing students who are obese go through at the hands of their colleagues. Modern studies have shown that most obese children schooling in various educational institutions in America is sidelined and exempted from several social activities that go on in schools (Moy and Wein, 2007). Some of these activities include sports, entertainment, and other school gathering activities (Wilkins et al, 2008). This kind of disparity and stigmatization build a sense of low esteem among the students, making it difficult for them to accept their true personalities and what they are capable of achieving as people (Gaski, 1997). The fact that academic performance is an important aspect of a child’s personality leads to a situation whereby the low self-esteem is carried into their abilities to study.

The second question focuses on solving the problem in the topic, which is the effect of obesity on the academic performance of students by looking at ways in which the home can be supportive in student learning. In relation to the research topic, this question tries to argue that whereas low self-esteem can bring about negative effects on the academic performance of pupils home-based management can also bring positive effects on academic performance. It is in line with this that the home is identified as an agent of change in the control of obesity (Garderner, 2006). Studies have actually confirmed that because parents are in control of the eating habits of their kids, they can help control obesity by ensuring that the right form of nutrient intake is provided to avoid obesity risk factors caused by poor diet (Franco, Alvarez-Dardet and Ruiz, 2004).