Association between the Nutritional Status and Scientific Aptitude in Adolescent Students

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the association between the nutritional status on the scientific aptitude of adolescent students. To conduct the study, 300 male and 300 female adolescent students enrolled in class IX from Raipur district were selected through a stratified sampling method. A test constructed by Shahapur and Rao (2011) was used to assess the scientific aptitude of adolescent students, while the nutritional status of adolescent students was assessed with the help of BMI. A significant variation was observed in the scientific aptitude of adolescent male and female students based on their nutritional status. Overall, adolescent male and female students with normal nutritional status exhibited superior scientific aptitude as compared to students who were underweight, overweight and obese. Hence, balanced nutrition during adolescence needs to be considered seriously by means of nutrition education, health monitoring and school meal programs to support the development of scientific aptitude through enhanced cognitive skills.