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Scholastic Performance, Test Anxiety, Dietary Intakes and their Interrelationship in Urban and Rural Adolescents

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Abstract

Objective

To study the association of test anxiety, scholastic performance and dietary intake in urban and rural adolescents.

Methods

Anthropometry, test anxiety (TA) demographic questionnaire, 24-h diet recall and scholastic performance (SP) from school records as well as by administering multiple choice questions (MCQ) to related subjects were obtained. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (V.21). Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to assess associations between variables.

Results

Mean TA score for urban vs. rural adolescents was similar (58 ± 12 urban boys vs. 58 ± 12 rural boys, p > 0.1 and 57 ± 11 urban girls vs. 55 ± 12 rural girls, p > 0.1). Urban boys and girls scored significantly higher marks in MCQs conducted in the study period (69%, 80% respectively) as compared to rural boys and girls (41%, 29% respectively) (p > 0.05). TA levels only of urban children were significantly negatively associated with scholastic performance (Spearman’s coefficient ρ = − 0.217, p = 0.002 for final year marks and Spearman’s coefficient ρ = − 0.247, p < 0.001 for MCQs). TA was positively associated with junk food intake among urban children (r = 0.127, p < 0.1). Also, junk food intake of children was negatively associated with their SP (r = −0.125, p = 0.012). Regression analysis (Generalised linear model) indicated TA and junk food intake negatively affected SP (β = −0.299, p = 0.001 and β = −0.13, p = 0.04 respectively) among urban children. Rural children showed no association of SP with TA or junk food intake.

Conclusions

Test anxiety, scholastic performance and junk food consumption are interrelated. Creating nutritional awareness among these populations is crucial.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the study participants and colleagues who helped with this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Growth and Endocrine, Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Manasi Parad, Neha Kajale, Varsha Vartak & Anuradha Vaman Khadilkar

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  1. Manasi Parad
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  2. Neha Kajale
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  3. Varsha Vartak
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  4. Anuradha Vaman Khadilkar
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Contributions

MP: Collected the data; VV, NK and AVK: Study design, validation and analysis of data; All the authors were involved in manuscript preparation and review. AVK is the guarantor for this article.

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Correspondence to Anuradha Vaman Khadilkar.

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Parad, M., Kajale, N., Vartak, V. et al. Scholastic Performance, Test Anxiety, Dietary Intakes and their Interrelationship in Urban and Rural Adolescents. Indian J Pediatr 86, 790–796 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-019-02955-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-019-02955-y

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