Eduardo A Undurraga1, Jere R Behrman2, Susan D Emmett3,4, Celeste Kidd5, William R Leonard6, Steven T Piantadosi5, Victoria Reyes-García7,8, Abhishek Sharma9, Rebecca Zhang10, Ricardo A Godoy11. 1. School of Government, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Región Metropolitana 7820436, Chile. 2. Department of Economics and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. 3. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287. 4. Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205. 5. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627-0268. 6. Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208. 7. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona 08010, Spain. 8. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 08193, Spain. 9. Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. 10. Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. 11. Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02453.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: We assessed associations between child stunting, recovery, and faltering with schooling and human capital skills in a native Amazonian society of horticulturalists-foragers (Tsimane'). METHODS: We used cross-sectional data (2008) from 1262 children aged 6 to 16 years in 53 villages to assess contemporaneous associations between three height categories: stunted (height-for-age Z score, HAZ<-2), moderately stunted (-2 ≤ HAZ≤-1), and nonstunted (HAZ>-1), and three categories of human capital: completed grades of schooling, test-based academic skills (math, reading, writing), and local plant knowledge. We used annual longitudinal data (2002-2010) from all children (n = 853) in 13 villages to estimate the association between changes in height categories between the first and last years of measure and schooling and academic skills. RESULTS: Stunting was associated with 0.4 fewer completed grades of schooling (∼24% less) and with 13-15% lower probability of showing any writing or math skills. Moderate stunting was associated with ∼20% lower scores in local plant knowledge and 9% lower probability of showing writing skills, but was not associated with schooling or math and writing skills. Compared with nonstunted children, children who became stunted had 18-21% and 15-21% lower probabilities of showing math and writing skills, and stunted children had 0.4 fewer completed grades of schooling. Stunted children who recovered showed human capital outcomes that were indistinguishable from nonstunted children. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm adverse associations between child stunting and human capital skills. Predictors of growth recovery and faltering can affect human capital outcomes, even in a remote, economically self-sufficient society.
OBJECTIVES: We assessed associations between child stunting, recovery, and faltering with schooling and human capital skills in a native Amazonian society of horticulturalists-foragers (Tsimane'). METHODS: We used cross-sectional data (2008) from 1262 children aged 6 to 16 years in 53 villages to assess contemporaneous associations between three height categories: stunted (height-for-age Z score, HAZ<-2), moderately stunted (-2 ≤ HAZ≤-1), and nonstunted (HAZ>-1), and three categories of human capital: completed grades of schooling, test-based academic skills (math, reading, writing), and local plant knowledge. We used annual longitudinal data (2002-2010) from all children (n = 853) in 13 villages to estimate the association between changes in height categories between the first and last years of measure and schooling and academic skills. RESULTS: Stunting was associated with 0.4 fewer completed grades of schooling (∼24% less) and with 13-15% lower probability of showing any writing or math skills. Moderate stunting was associated with ∼20% lower scores in local plant knowledge and 9% lower probability of showing writing skills, but was not associated with schooling or math and writing skills. Compared with nonstunted children, children who became stunted had 18-21% and 15-21% lower probabilities of showing math and writing skills, and stunted children had 0.4 fewer completed grades of schooling. Stunted children who recovered showed human capital outcomes that were indistinguishable from nonstunted children. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm adverse associations between child stunting and human capital skills. Predictors of growth recovery and faltering can affect human capital outcomes, even in a remote, economically self-sufficient society.
Authors: Marek Brabec; Jere R Behrman; Susan D Emmett; Edward Gibson; Celeste Kidd; William Leonard; Mary E Penny; Steven T Piantadosi; Abhishek Sharma; Susan Tanner; Eduardo A Undurraga; Ricardo A Godoy Journal: Ann Hum Biol Date: 2018-06 Impact factor: 1.533
Authors: Zeba A Rasmussen; Wasiat H Shah; Chelsea L Hansen; Syed Iqbal Azam; Ejaz Hussain; Barbara A Schaefer; Nicole Zhong; Alexandra F Jamison; Khalil Ahmed; Benjamin J J McCormick Journal: PLoS Med Date: 2021-09-28 Impact factor: 11.069