Socioeconomic determinants of child nutritional status in rural and tribal India†

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Abstract
Weight of 4223 children (0–72 months of age) of rural and tribal villages of Panchmahals district (Gujarat State, India) was measured and expressed as percent of the NCHS median. Household socioeconomic status was assessed by interviewing the head of the family. Nutrition knowledge of mothers was evaluated to determine its effect on the nutritional status of their children. Difference in mean weight for age for socioeconomic, maternal and child factors was examined separately for boys and girls. Per capita monthly family income, nutrition knowledge of mothers, birth interval and age of children were significantly related to nutritional status of both boys and girls. Literacy of mothers affected boys’ weight only. A stepwise multivariate regression model using the same factors for boys and girls with sex an additional independent variable showed that mothers’ nutrition knowledge score, children's age, per capita monthly income and sex, in that order, were significantly related to the nutritional status of children. However, predictive power of the model was weak, explaining only 4.2% of variablity of weight for age in children.