Record: Laura S. Kabiri, Allison Butcher, Wayne Brewer, and Alexis Ortiz, “Youth Physical Health and Years in American Homeschools: Are They Related?” in Health Promotion International (20 May, 2019): 1-6 [Abstract Here].
Summary: The authors, all affiliated with institutions in Texas, here report the results of a sample of 210 homeschooled children, who were recruited for the study from homeschooling groups around Houston, TX. The researchers followed standard protocols in their profession and subjected the children to a series of standard tests of body composition, endurance, and muscular strength, all of which have standard norms for various age groups based upon massive national samples. The researchers compared the results of the homeschoolers they tested with these national norms and found no relationship between length of time homeschooling and performance on any of the measures. They conclude that “parents and policymakers should not be concerned with the possibility of detrimental physical health effects of homeschooling on youth.” (p. 3) This was not what they expected to find, but find it they did.
Appraisal: This is now the third article by Kabiri and various collaborators we have reviewed. The first, covering homeschoolers’ fine motor skills, found homeschoolers to be pretty much like everybody else on that variable. The second, covering homeschoolers’ Body Mass Index (BMI), found that homeschooled children are pretty average there as well. This new study again finds that homeschooled children look pretty normal on physical health measures, and this normality persists no matter how long they’ve been homeschooling. When I reviewed the BMI study I noted that they were comparing a sample of mostly middle to upper class, mostly white children to national averages, which could skew the data. Richer and whiter populations are likely to be healthier in general than national averages. But at the same time their sample came from Texas, which is less healthy overall than the national average. This present study, comparing a sample derived entirely from the greater Houston area with national averages, is open to the same critique. Is this group of mostly middle-class (60% have a gross household income of $100K or higher), mostly white (84%) homeschoolers demographically like the national averages to which their scores on the various measures are being compared? If not, is that bias toward health (richer, whiter) or away from it (Texas)? Furthermore, given that the sample was recruited from well-networked families, is it representative of the broader homeschooling population or just of a richer, more savvy cohort? A full 77% of the children in their sample, for example, reported participating in organized sports. Is that normal for the homeschooled population?
Despite these familiar problems with the sample, the take-home message is consistent with the findings of many of the other studies conducted over the years on physical health and homeschooling (click “health” under categories to the right): there are no clear health differences between homeschooled children and children who attend school.
Milton Gaither
Messiah College