Inhibitory control mediates the association between body mass index and math performance in children: A cross-sectional study
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Barradas Cordeiro, Felipe; Moura-Silva, Marcos Guilherme; Souza Domingues, Mauro Roberto de; Carvalho de Souza, Mizael; Rocha, Renan; Esteban Cornejo, Irene; Bento-Torres, Natáli Valim Oliver; Erickson, Kirk I.; Bento-Torres, JoãoEditorial
Public Library of Science
Fecha
2024-04-11Referencia bibliográfica
Cordeiro FB, Moura-Silva MG, Domingues MRdS, de Souza MC, Rocha R, Esteban-Cornejo I, et al. (2024) Inhibitory control mediates the association between body mass index and math performance in children: A crosssectional study. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0296635. [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296635]
Patrocinador
Coordenação de Aperfeic¸oamento de pessoal de NÍvel Superior - Brasil (CAPES) in the form of a scholarship to FBC and RR [code 001]; PROPESP/UFPA (PAPQ) in the form of an Administrative Supplement to JB-T [EDITAL 01/2023 – PROPESP]Resumen
Background
Overweight and obesity affect more than 18% of children and adolescents in the world. Obesity-related associations with brain morphology might be associated with reduced efficiency of inhibitory control. This association highlights a possible mechanism by which obesity impacts intelligence and academic achievement. Prior work indicates a mediating effect of inhibitory control on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and intelligence and academic achievement. However, although obesity is associated with impaired math performance, we do not know whether inhibitory control also mediates the relationship between BMI and math performance. This study tests the hypothesis that inhibitory control statistically mediates the relationship between BMI and math performance.
Methods
161 children (9 to 13 years old, 80 female) participated in the present study. We evaluated BMI; math performance, in a test composed of 20 arithmetic equations of the type x = (a × b) − c; and inhibitory control through the Flanker test. We carried out Spearman correlation tests, hierarchical multiple linear regression, and tested the confidence of the model where inhibitory control statistically mediates the indirect association between BMI and math performance. Mediation analysis in this cross-sectional study aimed to improve understanding of indirect relationships and offer insights into possible causal connections.
Results
Better math performance and lower BMI were associated with greater accuracy on the inhibitory control test and greater accuracy on the inhibitory control test was associated with better performance on math test. We found an indirect association between higher BMI in children and impairments in math performance, that was mediated by inhibitory control (a: -0.008, p = 0.025; b: 7.10, p = 0.0004; c: 0.05, p = 0.592; c’: 0.11, p = 0.238; Indirect Effect: -0.0599, 95% CI: -0.13, -0.005).
Conclusions
An indirect association between higher body mass indices in children and impairments in math performance was detected, through the impact that BMI has on inhibitory control.