Effect of Eating Breakfast on Cognitive Development of Elementary and Middle School Students: An Empirical Study Using Large-Scale Provincial Survey Data

Abstract

BackgroundIn existing research on the importance of student breakfast, few studies have focused on the impact of breakfast on student cognitive development. Further, empirical research in this field is mostly based correlation analysis, in which it is difficult to control the influence of selection bias on the analysis results.Material/MethodsHere, we used student academic performance, based on the academic quality monitoring data of Jiangsu basic education students, as a proxy variable for cognitive development, and used both ordinary least-squares regression and propensity score matching methods to analyze the impact of eating breakfast on the cognitive development of primary and middle school students.ResultsWe found that it is still common for students in primary and secondary schools to go without breakfast, and that this is even true in middle schools. Whether students eat breakfast is affected by many factors, and the frequency of eating breakfast has a significant positive impact on student achievement.ConclusionsIn primary school, students who eat breakfast every day in a week scored 31.322 points higher in academic performance than those who did not. In middle school, students who ate breakfast on time every day had significantly better academic performance (31.335 points higher) than those who did not eat breakfast every day. This indicates that eating breakfast every day has a significant effect on the cognitive development of students.

Breakfast: A Crucial Meal for Adolescents’ Cognitive Performance According to Their Nutritional Status. The Cogni-Action Project

“…Furthermore, no evidence of differences according to their nutritional status was established. In this sense, several studies showed that skipping breakfast impacts the children and adolescents’ cognitive and academic achievement, negatively impairing their problem-solving ability, attention, and episodic memory in the morning [ 12 , 13 , 42 ]. However, this detrimental cognitive effect was not observed in children (8–10 years) who regularly consumed breakfast and skipped it once [ 43 ].…”

“…Despite all these relevant aspects, it is also crucial to consider the adolescents’ social context and familial support, because most “breakfast skippers” have unfavorable socio-economic backgrounds [ 12 , 45 ]. Social factors have been related to worse food quality and physical inactivity, among others, influencing a higher rate of overweight/obesity [ 46 ].…”

“…Thereby, both a nutrient deficit and obesity have been linked to lower cognitive functioning during childhood [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Having a regular breakfast and improving its quality could enhance children’s cognitive performance [ 11 , 12 ] through enhanced episodic and visual memory, attention, and other cognitive skills [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. For instance, a large-scale and empirical study of Chinese elementary and middle school students’ data ( N = 56,238 and N = 91,543, respectively) concluded that eating breakfast every day had a significant effect on academic quality (a proxy variable for cognitive development) [ 12 ].…”

Eating Breakfast or Attending Extracurricular Tutoring, Which One is More Effective in Improving Student’s Performance? An Empirical Study Based on the Data from A Large-Scale Provincial Survey

“…Thus, we firstly used large-scale testing and survey data from the monitoring of the academic quality of students in basic education in Jiangsu Province to study the potential role of breakfast in students' cognitive development. Our finding indicated that regularly eating breakfast significantly promoted students' cognitive development (Yao et al, 2019). Based on this finding, we move on to question between eating breakfast and attending tutoring, which one is more effective in improving students' performance?…”

Social Inequalities in Breakfast Consumption among Adolescents in Spain: The DESKcohort Project

“…Children and adolescents who regularly consume breakfast more likely have a good diet quality [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Moreover, having breakfast has also been associated with positive effects on students’ cognitive development and better school performance in children [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. However, breakfast is the meal that is most often skipped by children and adolescents [ 22 ].…”