Chronic undernutrition (stunting) is detrimental to academic performance among primary schools of adolescent children: a randomized cross sectional survey in Southern Ethiopia

Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics, nutritional status and academic performance of participants at primary schools of Meskan District 2016

Variables	Categories	Frequency	Percent
Sex	Boy	171	45.2
Sex	Girl	207	54.8
Grade level	Grade 5	62	16.4
	Grade 6	202	53.4
	Grade 7	84	22.2
	Grade 8	30	7.9
Age in years	10–12	159	42.1
Age in years	13–15	219	57.9
Place of residence	Rural	273	72.2
Place of residence	Urban	105	27.8
Father’s educational status	Illiterate	125	33.1
	Primary complete	205	54.2
	Secondary complete	41	10.8
	Above secondary	7	1.9
Mother’s educational status	Illiterate	189	50
	Primary complete	167	44.2
	Secondary complete	18	4.8
	Above secondary	4	1.1
Father’s occupation	Farmer	228	60.3
	Government employee	28	7.4
	Merchant	71	18.8
	Other	51	13.5
Mother’s occupation	Household work	235	62.2
	Government employee	9	2.4
	Farmer	16	4.2
	Merchant	103	27.2
	Other	15	4
Wealth quintile	Lowest	76	20.1
	Second	72	19
	Middle	61	16.1
	Fourth	105	27.8
	Highest	64	16.9
Family size	< 7	172	45.5
Family size	≥ 7	206	54.5
Grade repetition	Yes	42	11.1
	No	336	88.9
Reason of grade repetition	Academic	4	9.5
	Diseases	10	23.8
	Shortage of food	28	66.7
Stunted children	Yes	64	16.9
Stunted children	No	314	83.1
Average grade score	< 50%	257	68
Average grade score	≥ 50%	121	32

ISSN: 1756-0500