The relation between body mass index and emotional intelligence in children

Pediatric obesity is going to be one of the major risk factors in our era. It might have adverse effects on all aspects of child’s health. It could affect both physically and mentally and cause emotional suffering as well. It is shown that obesity could decrease cognition, but its relationship with emotional intelligence (EI) is unclear. In this cross-sectional study, the relationship between the child’s weight and level of EI has been investigated. Seventy-one children with average age 9.2±2.3 years old (32 girls and 39 boys) of volunteer parents who have come to counseling clinic were joined in this study. Anthropometrical information of children including BMI for age Z score was analyzed by using Anthro Plus software. Demographic information such as gender, year of birth, household income, and parental educational status were obtained by using common SES questionnaire. Emotional intelligence of children was obtained by using “Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Child Short Form” (TEIQue-CSF). A significant negative correlation between BMI and EI score was seen in both genders (r2=0.33, p=0.001). A similar pattern was also noticed for both boys and girls. Despite the similarity of this pattern in both genders, to some extent boys showed a stronger negative relationship between their BMI and EI score (Girls: r2=0.293, p=0.001; Boys: r2=0.388, p=0.001). Based on the present study, overweight and obesity are associated with a higher EI score in both genders, which shows the importance of weight effect on EI.