Relationship Between the Use of Organic Foods in ADHD Symptoms and Academic Performance in Children

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was to investigate if there was a relationship between organic food consumption on ADHD symptoms in children aged 6–12 living in the United States. The theoretical foundation used for this study was the social cognitive theory. The target population were the parents with children with ADHD diagnosis willing to provide information regarding their child’s organic food consumption and the child’s academic performance. The research questions for the study: What relationship, if any, exists between children’s organic food intake and symptoms as measured on the Vanderbilt Scale and what relationship, if any, exists between children’s organic food intake and academic performance as measured on the Vanderbilt Scale?. The Results from the simple linear regression analyses showed that based upon the initial full data set (N = 116). Results indicated that food frequency was not a predictor of ADHD symptoms based on an alpha level of .025, b = 0.031, t (114) = 2.20, p = .030. A second regression analysis was conducted after listwise deletion of records considered to contain identified outliers. This second analysis indicate that food frequency was a significant predictor of ADHD symptoms, b = .037, t (111) = 2.61, p = .010, r2 = .058. The results for the second analysis showed that food frequency was not a significant predictor of academic performance. b = .037, t (111) = 2.61, p = .010, r2 = .058.