Children's Wellness and Academic Performance

Wellness is a framework within which children develop a productive and enjoyable life. Academic achievement occurs within the complexity of the content of a student's whole life. Although students receive similar instruction and interventions in the school setting, schools continue to experience ranges of student mastery of content. The relationship is examined between multiple dimensions of wellness (defined as a state of the totality of a person's life as mind, body, and spirit interact with the environmental contexts) and academic performance of elementary students, based on a study for 634 third through fifth grade students in Title One schools in rural Mississippi. Analysis should help professionals in schools and community agencies develop wellness interventions to support academic performance of children and to enhance multiple areas of wellness for children.