PMID- 19161545
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20090325
LR  - 20220410
IS  - 1740-8709 (Electronic)
IS  - 1740-8695 (Print)
IS  - 1740-8695 (Linking)
VI  - 5
IP  - 1
DP  - 2009 Jan
TI  - Maternal autonomy is inversely related to child stunting in Andhra Pradesh, 
      India.
PG  - 64-74
LID - 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2008.00161.x [doi]
AB  - Child stunting, an outcome of chronic undernutrition, contributes to poor quality 
      of life, morbidity and mortality. In South Asia, the low status of women is 
      thought to be one of the primary determinants of undernutrition across the 
      lifespan. Low female status can result in compromised health outcomes for women, 
      which in turn are related to lower infant birthweight and may affect the quality 
      of infant care and nutrition. Maternal autonomy (defined as a woman's personal 
      power in the household and her ability to influence and change her environment) 
      is likely an important factor influencing child care and ultimately infant and 
      child health outcomes. To examine the relationship between maternal autonomy and 
      child stunting in Andhra Pradesh, India, we analysed data from National Family 
      Health Survey (NFHS)-2. We used cross-sectional demographic, health and 
      anthropometric information for mothers and their oldest child <36 months (n = 
      821) from NFHS-2. The main explanatory variables of autonomy are presented by 
      four dimensions - decision making, permission to travel, attitude towards 
      domestic violence and financial autonomy - constructed using seven binary 
      variables. Logistic regression models were used to test associations between 
      indicators of female autonomy and the risk of having a stunted child. Women with 
      higher autonomy indicated by access to money [odds ratio (OR) = 0.731; 95% 
      confidence interval (CI) 0.546, 0.981] and freedom to choose to go to the market 
      [OR = 0.593; 95% CI 0.376, 0.933] were significantly less likely to have a 
      stunted child, after controlling for household socio-economic status and mother's 
      education. In this south Indian state, two dimensions of female autonomy have an 
      independent effect on child growth, suggesting the need for interventions that 
      increase women's financial and physical autonomy.
FAU - Shroff, Monal
AU  - Shroff M
AD  - Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 
      27516-2524, USA. mshroff@gwm.sc.edu
FAU - Griffiths, Paula
AU  - Griffiths P
FAU - Adair, Linda
AU  - Adair L
FAU - Suchindran, Chirayath
AU  - Suchindran C
FAU - Bentley, Margaret
AU  - Bentley M
LA  - eng
GR  - R01 HD042219/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R24 HD050924/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R01 HD042219-03S1/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
PL  - England
TA  - Matern Child Nutr
JT  - Maternal & child nutrition
JID - 101201025
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Anthropometry
MH  - Body Height/*physiology
MH  - Child Nutrition Disorders/*epidemiology
MH  - Child Welfare
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - *Decision Making
MH  - Domestic Violence/psychology
MH  - Educational Status
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - India/epidemiology
MH  - Infant
MH  - Infant, Newborn
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Mother-Child Relations
MH  - Mothers/education/*psychology
MH  - *Personal Autonomy
MH  - Social Class
MH  - Socioeconomic Factors
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC3811039
MID - NIHMS381089
COIS- None declared.
EDAT- 2009/01/24 09:00
MHDA- 2009/03/26 09:00
PMCR- 2008/12/16
CRDT- 2009/01/24 09:00
PHST- 2009/01/24 09:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2009/01/24 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2009/03/26 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2008/12/16 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - MCN161 [pii]
AID - 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2008.00161.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Matern Child Nutr. 2009 Jan;5(1):64-74. doi: 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2008.00161.x.