Disentangling the effects of reproductive behaviours and fertility preferences on child growth in India

Md Juel Rana, John Cleland, T.V. Sekher and Sabu S. Padmadas

Population Studies, 2021, vol. 75, issue 1, 37-50

Abstract: We analysed population data from the 2015–16 National Family Health Survey to disentangle the intricate underlying effects of reproductive behaviours and fertility preferences on child growth. We expected birth interval length to be more strongly associated with stunting than sibsize and these effects to be moderated by whether the child was wanted or unintended (mistimed/unwanted). Regression analyses showed strong and equal effects of short birth interval and sibsize on stunting, when adjusted for potential confounders and unobserved between-mother heterogeneity. There were no statistical associations between stunting and mistiming/unwantedness of index children, suggesting the absence of discrimination against such children. We conclude that while fertility preferences have no effect, reproductive behaviours exert significant influence on child growth. Sibsize has been falling for many years in India but birth interval lengths have remained largely unchanged. The results underscore the need for strengthening uptake of reversible contraceptives to enable longer birth intervals.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00324728.2020.1826564 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:75:y:2021:i:1:p:37-50

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rpst20

DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2020.1826564

Access Statistics for this article

Population Studies is currently edited by John Simons, Francesco Billari, James J. Brown, John Cleland, Andrew Foster, John McDonald, Tom Moultrie, Mikko Myrsklä, Alice Reid, Wendy Sigle-Rushton, Ronald Skeldon and Frans Willekens

More articles in Population Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().