Science Journal of Sociology & Anthropology ISSN: 2276-6359 http://www.sjpub.org/sjpsych.html © Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Published By Science Journal Publication International Open Access Publisher Research Article The Relationship between Breakfast and Performance in Junior Secondary Schools In Ogun State Toyobo Oluwole Majekodunmi Ph.D, Owoyele Jimoh Wale Ph.D Tai Solarin University of Education College of Applied Education & Vocation Technology Department of Counselling Psychology. P.m.b.2118, Ijagun Ijebu- Ode, Ogun State. Abstract This study investigated the relationship between breakfast and school performance,(academic performance, class participation and recall ability). Three null hypotheses were tested. The study population was made up of all the junior secondary school students in Ogun State, out of whom 800 students were drawn to constitute the sample using the multi-stage sampling technique. Two instruments developed and validated by the researchers were used for data collection. Both the BAS and SPQ were validated with each having 0.91 and 0.86 reliability co-efficient respectively. Data analysis was done using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient. Findings showed a strong positive relationship between breakfast and each of academic performance, class-participation and recall ability. Hence, regular breakfast should be provided to students by their parents while government and voluntary agencies should also help to boost students' breakfast intake. Keyword: Ogun State, breakfast, Class-participation, Recall ability, Junior School. Introduction Education is very important for human survival. Hence going to school is a very crucial aspect of human life. That is why the society places a great importance on education of children. It is the only legacy that can be handed over to succeeding generations. Parents who cherish education prefer to spend the last savings they have in getting the children educated, because in the later years or future when they are very old and helpless, it is those trained that will take over from them and possibly cater for their old age. It is imperative to note that without education a person will find it very hard to develop the skills needed to make it through everyday life. Going to school is not enough. If student should be able to perform well in his or her classes in order to get the most our of his or her education and become a high achiever. In our society, for years questions are asked constantly on what will make students perform better in school. Feeding is often cited as a necessary condition for better academic performance. It has often been suggested that breakfast in particular must be regular nation's Universal Basic Scheme (Obanya, 2001). The paramount questions that and adequate in terms of quality. Hence, provision of daily breakfast is one of the major components of the comes to mind is that does exiting breakfast contribute to greater school performance. Literature Review A lot of studies have been carried out to determine whether or not a positive relationship exists between eating breakfast and students' performance. One study (Klemnam 1998) as cited on the website in New Harvard Research (1998) established a link between increased participation in the National School Breakfast Program and improved psychosocial behaviour and academic performance in students. The study followed 133 elementary school students before and after the beginning of a universally force breakfast program. The result of the study revealed that the student that increased their breakfast participation were significantly more attentive in class earned higher grades in maths and had significantly fewer behavioural and emotional problems. Beyond the aforementioned study, it was found that the schools who participated in the breakfast program displayed a significant decrease in overall hardness, absences and disciplinary incidents compared to the three control schools in which school breakfast participation remained low. Worobey (1999) examined the effects a school breakfast program had on pre-schoolers. Breakfasts were prepared for the children by a hired Food Technician in accordance with the School Breakfast Program (SBP) Guidelines made up by the Federal Government. As a control group, some parents were asked to feed their children breakfast log. All of the pre-school children were given a series of tests to measure their performance ability. One of the tests was a verbal memory test where each child was read a striving of words on increasing length. The child was then asked to repeat the words in the proper sequence. Results from the study showed that children performed better in general when tested after school breakfast than they did after the home breakfast. They concluded that serving pre-school children a meal in accordance with SBP Guidelines does result in a greater performance in various tasks than in children who were not served the school meal. Crockett and Sims (1995) also conducted a study on the effects that a breakfast according to SBP Guidelines had on a student's performance. With two groups of fourth and eighth grades, they discovered that eating the meal according to SBP Guidelines positively influenced children's nutritional status health growth and learning ability. They had a higher intake of energy than those students who skipped breakfast completely because those students that skipped did not appear to make up for the loss by increasing energy intake at other meals during the day. The next study attempted to discover what types of children are most affected in school performance by omitting breakfast. The study that was done on elementary-aged children (Simeon and Granthem-McGregor 1989) looked at the effects of missing breakfast on a child's overall performance, mainly his or her cognitive functioning. The effects of omitting Volume 2012, Article ID sjsa-264, 4 Pages, 2012. doi: 10.7237/sjsa/264 Accepted 25�� April, 2012 Corresponding Author:Toyobo Oluwole Majekodunmi Ph.D Tai Solarin University of Education College of Applied Education & Vocation Technology Department of Counselling Psychology. P.m.b.2118, Ijagun Ijebu- Ode, Ogun State. Email: woltosix@yahoo.com