Promoting school readiness through a preschool feeding program: A nutritional nudge to improve at-risk preschooler’s cognitive development in Armenia

Heather A. Knauer, Sona Balasanyan, Elmira Bakhshinyan and Harold Alderman

No 2046, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Many school feeding programs target child hunger, nutritional deficiencies, attendance, and education outcomes but often do not examine their effects on cognitive development. In this cluster-randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of adding a morning snack to a school lunch program on the fluid intelligence of 951 children ages 4 to 6 years. While there were no significant effects on development overall, the morning snack improved short-term memory (STM) and total score on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) among children from the lowest quartile of household expenditures (STM: 0.35SD, p = 0.020; WPPSI-IV: 0.65SD, p = 0.087), and those whose mothers completed secondary school or less (STM: 0.35SD, p = 0.002; total WPPSI-IV: 0.81SD, p = 0.011). For at risk preschoolers, school snack programs may help meet their developmental needs.

Keywords: school feeding; preschool children; nutrition; children; Armenia; Asia; Western Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-exp, nep-neu, nep-tra and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2046

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