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When children are in good health, their stressful transition elementary school to middle school becomes much smoother, claims a new study.

During the study, the researchers noted that those students who had chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, learning disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and those with health-related needs, had lower academic performances.

"Most parents don't know how tough that transition really is," said lead author Christopher Forrest, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "When kids leave elementary school healthy, they're more likely to be good learners in middle school."

With the study, the team of researchers aimed at finding the affects of health-related factors on school outcomes over time.

Their research involved following up more than 1,000 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students between  2006 and 2008 in Maryland and West Virginia. The researchers noted the state of health of the children along with keeping a track of factors like whether or not the child had attained puberty, if the child had  physical comfort, balanced nutrition and low negative stress.

This record was compared with their average grades and attendance at school.

The study revealed that those with fewer health conditions had higher GPAs and puberty could be associated with lesser attendance and poorer school outcomes at school.

However, it was found that good health could negate the negative effects of puberty. Also, it seems, the children's life satisfaction could be associated to others, including the teachers and to school success.

"There is a dynamic association between achieving in school and feeling satisfied and happy with life," Forrest said according to Medical Xpress.

The transition into adolescence is a time of real vulnerability, commented Jane Mendle, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical psychology at Cornell University. This also many a times leads to amplification of problems, especially heath issues, during this time.

"It's not that their obesity gets worse. It's not that their learning disability gets worse," Mendle said. "What's really the problem are the social repercussions of having that difficulty."

Parents and teachers have a significant role to play in helping out students deal with this time.

"It should be important to be aware of children that come into adolescence with a particular issue to help them through the transition," Mendle said.

The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.