Abstract:
This study will ease the unscientific belief that most parents and teachers have the overweight
persons are sluggish, lazy and sleepy; therefore would not do well in academic performance
at the university. The objective was to determine the relationship between Body Mass Index
and Academic Performance. A descriptive cross- Sectional design was used. The study was
conducted in University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka for undergraduate students. The subject
included a random selection of 2500 undergraduates. (198 Male and 251 Female). Actabit
BMI calculator and grade point average (GPA) scores were used to collect data. BMI was
calculated from each student‘s height and weight recordings. AP was determined by each
student‘s cumulative university GPA. Researcher used cross-tabulation analysis from SPSS
21, to identify the relationship between both categorical and scale data. Chi-square test
revealed significant differences in BMI and GPA. The descriptive results showed significant
associations between BMI and AP (P<.001). According to the results we observed a strong
association between the BMI and AP X2 (6) = 97.496, P=.000. This study demonstrated that
normal weight had higher GPA scores than their overweight counterparts, underscoring the
need to intensify interventions focused on reducing and preventing obesity among university
population.
