Adult education and child nutrition: the role of family and community
Abstract
Background: It is well established that mothers鈥� education has positive effects on child nutrition in developing countries. Less explored is the effect exerted by the education of other individuals鈥攎others鈥� friends, neighbours and family.
Objectives: To examine independent effects of mothers鈥�, fathers鈥� and grandmothers鈥� education on child height-for-age and weight-for-age z-score, and the role of community-level maternal literacy over and above parental education and other individual-level factors.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were analysed for 5692 children from Andhra Pradesh State in India and Vietnam sampled within 鈥渟ites鈥� (20 from each country) and then within 鈥渃ommunities鈥� (31 from Vietnam and 102 from India). Multilevel regression analysis was undertaken to account for confounders and geographical clustering of observations.
Results: Child nutrition is positively and independently associated with mothers鈥�, fathers鈥� and grandmothers鈥� education. 皇冠体育app association with grandmothers鈥� education was statistically significant in the India sample only and was stronger for boys: the adjusted mean difference in height-for-age z-scores between boys living with an educated grandmother and those not was 0.64 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.99, p
Conclusion: 皇冠体育app results imply that an individual-level perspective may fail to capture the entire impact of education on child nutrition, and support a call for a widening of focus of nutrition policy and programmes from the mother鈥揷hild pair towards the broader context of their family and community.
Citation
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2008) 62 (3) 153-159 [doi:10.1136/jech.2006.058578]