The Study of Cranial Capacity and Body Mass Index in Relation to Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students

Cranial capacity, body mass index, age of various population groups have always been estimated in numerous reports but are hardly pull together to study their relationship with academic performance of students. The study was aimed at identifying the relationship between cranial capacity, body mass index and academic performance among Nigerian undergraduate students attending Bayero University, Kano in the northern part of Nigeria. A total of 408 participants (male: 250 and female: 158) comprising of about 50 students each from eight (8) faculties that satisfied the selection criteria were randomly selected at 5 sampling interval. Pearson's correlation was employed to test for the relationship between cranial capacity with body mass index and academic performance using SPSS version 23. The result shows a non-significant relationship (p<0.01) between academic performance and body mass index; academic performance and cranial capacity in the male group while a statistically non-significant relationship (p<0.01) between academic performance and body mass index; academic performance and cranial capacity was equally observed in the females. Also, in the combined analysis of both male and female groups, it was found that academic performance has a non-significant relationship (p<0.01) with cranial capacity and body mass index. Based on the findings of this present study, we concluded that cranial capacity and body mass index has no significant influence on academic performance of undergraduate students in Bayero University, Kano.

Key Words: Academic performance, Body mass index, Cranial capacity, Undergraduate, Kano