Stunting, a linear growth anomaly in under-five year (U5) children: A risk factors’ analysis from maternal, household and individual background in Indian context

• Published in: Child indicators research 2022-06, Vol.15 (3), p.1025-1042
• Main Authors: Das, Partha, Das, Tanu, Roy, Tamal Basu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Birth order; Chi-square test; Child and School Psychology; Child Development; Childbirth & labor; Children; Children & youth; Congenital Impairments; Diarrhea; Early Childhood Education; Early intervention; Economic status; Females; Health surveys; Households; Prenatal care; Quality of Life Research; Risk factors; Social Sciences; Social Work; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic status; Underweight; Wealth; Welfare; Young women
• ISSN: 1874-897X; 1874-8988
• DOI: 10.1007/s12187-021-09898-x

India is a country where approximately one-third of children still suffer from stunting phenomena. Stunting among the children is an anomaly of impairment of growth and development of children. It is a significant deterrent in achieving the welfare of the children. The aims of this study is to explore the role of maternal, household and individual level risk factors nested within each other and its association with stunting phenomena among children under -five years of age. For conducting this study data have been extracted from the fourth series of the National Family Health Survey 2015-16. A total of 225,002 children of under-five age groups were included in this study. Apart from the summary statistics and Pearson’s chi-square test to understand the role of predictors and its association in between stunting outcome and independent variables binary logistic multivariate regression model was used. The study revealed that underweight women (AOR: 1.25; P < 0.01; 95% CI: 1.22 – 1.28), women with no education (AOR: 1.68; P < 0.01; 95% CI: 1.61 – 1.76), women’s of younger age and women’s who never received antenatal care visits (AOR: 1.12; P < 0.01; 95% CI: 1.09 – 1.16) were more likely to have stunted children. Households with the poorest wealth index were more likelihood of having stunted children. Apart from these above risk factors sex of the child, birth order of the child, stool disposal, and diarrheal status of the child were significantly associated with stunting. In this study, it was found that maternal, household and individual level risk factors were the potent determinants of stunting phenomena among the children of under five years age. Early Interventions programs are very much needed to obviate stunting emphasising on male children, a child with higher birth order and children belonging to the poorest socio-economic status.