IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v47y2022ics1570677x22000958.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are stunted child – overweight mother pairs a real defined entity or a statistical artifact?

Author

Listed:
  • Fooken, Jonas
  • Vo, Linh K.

Abstract

In a methodological contribution, Dieffenbach & Stein (DS) (The Journal of Nutrition, 142(4), 771–773.) concluded that the double burden of malnutrition (DBM), represented by stunted child – overweight mother pairs (SCOM), is a statistical artifact, meaning that SCOM does not describe a unique phenomenon because the observed rates of SCOM across a number of countries were not strongly different from the product of observed rates of maternal overweight (OM) and child stunting (SC), which DS referred to as the expected rate of SCOM. However, a growing literature continues to use SCOM as an indicator of the DBM. This study shows that the analysis by DS is not sufficient to conclude that SCOM can be explained by the co-occurrence of OM and SC due to chance alone because the analysis by DS was conducted at the country level, but applied to SCOM, which is a household-level variable. Using Demographic and Health Surveys data from 202 country-year data sets, we do not confirm important implicit assumptions that are required for the claim by DS to be supported. We also outline that comparing the expected to the observed rate of SCOM is primarily informative when putting it in relation to factors that influence the supply and demand of food consumed by households. When considering these factors, we find further evidence that it is misleading to consider SCOM as a statistical artifact, as the difference between the observed and the expected rate of SCOM significantly differs by household wealth. Recognizing that SCOM is a distinct phenomenon is important for policymakers who develop double-duty strategies that address malnutrition, and for researchers who need useful indicators to study the determinants of malnutrition at the household level.

Suggested Citation

  • Fooken, Jonas & Vo, Linh K., 2022. "Are stunted child – overweight mother pairs a real defined entity or a statistical artifact?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:47:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000958
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101199
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X22000958
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101199?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. Miller, Jane & V. Rodgers, Yana, 2009. "Mother’s Education and Children’s Nutritional Status: New Evidence from Cambodia," Asian Development Review, Asian Development Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 131-165.
    2. Chen, Yuyu & Li, Hongbin, 2009. "Mother's education and child health: Is there a nurturing effect?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, March.
    3. Finaret, Amelia B. & Masters, William A., 2020. "Can shorter mothers have taller children? Nutritional mobility, health equity and the intergenerational transmission of relative height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    4. Costa-Font, Joan & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia, 2020. "Is the intergenerational transmission of overweight ‘gender assortative’?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    5. Lee, Jounghee & Houser, Robert F. & Must, Aviva & de Fulladolsa, Patricia Palma & Bermudez, Odilia I., 2012. "Socioeconomic disparities and the familial coexistence of child stunting and maternal overweight in guatemala," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 232-241.
    6. Adair, Linda S. & Carba, Delia B. & Lee, Nanette R. & Borja, Judith B., 2021. "Stunting, IQ, and final school attainment in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey birth cohort," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    7. repec:mpr:mprres:7406 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Jürges, Hendrik & Kopetsch, Thomas, 2021. "Prenatal exposure to the German food crisis 1944–1948 and health after 65 years," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    9. Jehn, Megan & Brewis, Alexandra, 2009. "Paradoxical malnutrition in mother-child pairs: Untangling the phenomenon of over- and under-nutrition in underdeveloped economies," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 28-35, March.
    10. Roemling, Cornelia & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Obesity Trends, Determinants and Policy Implications in Indonesia," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126208, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roemling, Cornelia & Qaim, Matin, 2013. "Dual burden households and intra-household nutritional inequality in Indonesia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 563-573.
    2. Trias Mahmudiono & Calista Segalita & Richard R. Rosenkranz, 2019. "Socio-Ecological Model of Correlates of Double Burden of Malnutrition in Developing Countries: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Joseph, George & Hoo, Yi Rong & Moqueet, Nazia Sultana & Chellaraj, Gnanaraj, 2023. "Early-life exposure to unimproved sanitation and delayed school enrollment: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    4. Fooken, Jonas & Vo, Linh K., 2021. "Exploring the macroeconomic and socioeconomic determinants of simultaneous over and undernutrition in Asia: An analysis of stunted child - overweight mother households," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    5. Cuili Wang & Robert L Kane & Dongjuan Xu & Lingui Li & Weihua Guan & Hui Li & Qingyue Meng, 2013. "Maternal Education and Micro-Geographic Disparities in Nutritional Status among School-Aged Children in Rural Northwestern China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Asibul Islam Anik & Md Mosfequr Rahman & Md Mostafizur Rahman & Md Ismail Tareque & Md Nuruzzaman Khan & M Mahmudul Alam, 2019. "Double burden of malnutrition at household level: A comparative study among Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Myanmar," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Okada, Keisuke, 2012. "The effects of female HIV/AIDS status on fertility and child health in Cambodia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 560-570.
    8. Mahmood Safaei & Elankovan A. Sundararajan & Shahla Asadi & Mehrbakhsh Nilashi & Mohd Juzaiddin Ab Aziz & M. S. Saravanan & Maha Abdelhaq & Raed Alsaqour, 2022. "A Hybrid MCDM Approach Based on Fuzzy-Logic and DEMATEL to Evaluate Adult Obesity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Yongqing Dong & Quheng Deng & Shaoping Li, 2022. "The Health Inequality of Children in China: A Regression-Based Decomposition Analysis," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(1), pages 137-159, February.
    10. Deniz Karaoğlan & Dürdane Şirin Saraçoğlu, 2018. "Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Early Childhood Health: the Case of Turkey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 1051-1075, June.
    11. Nicky Roberts & Buchari Mengge & Brietta Oaks & Novita Sari & Irsan & Austin Humphries, 2023. "Fish consumption pathways and food security in an Indonesian fishing community," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, February.
    12. UNESCO Publishing, 2015. "The Economic Cost of Out-of-School Children in Southeast Asia," Working Papers id:7651, eSocialSciences.
    13. Liu, Hong & Fang, Hai & Zhao, Zhong, 2013. "Urban–rural disparities of child health and nutritional status in China from 1989 to 2006," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 294-309.
    14. Deniz Karaoglan & Serap Sagir & Meltem Dayioglu & Durdane Sirin Saracoglu, 2023. "The Impact of Maternal Education on Early Childhood Development: The Case of Turkey," Working Papers 2023-02, Gebze Technical University, Department of Economics.
    15. Patou Masika Musumari & Arunrat Tangmunkongvorakul & Kriengkrai Srithanaviboonchai & Teeranee Techasrivichien & S Pilar Suguimoto & Masako Ono-Kihara & Masahiro Kihara, 2018. "Grit is associated with lower level of depression and anxiety among university students in Chiang Mai, Thailand: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Deniz Karaoğlan & Dürdane Şirin Saracoğlu, 2016. "Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Early Childhood Health: The Case of Turkey," ERC Working Papers 1614, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised 2016.
    17. Marion Davin & Emmanuelle Lavaine, 2021. "The role of health at birth and parental investment in early child development: evidence from the French ELFE cohort," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(8), pages 1217-1237, November.
    18. Kimenju, Simon & Qaim, Matin, 2014. "The Nutrition Transition and Indicators of Child Malnutrition," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 195709, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    19. Roemling, Cornelia & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Dual Burden Households and Nutritional Inequality in Indonesia," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 126943, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    20. Dimitrios Minos, 2020. "“Eat, my child.” Obesity among children in developing countries: Evidence from South Africa," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1300-1311, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Double burden of malnutrition; SCOM; Household consumption of food; Statistical artifact; Double-duty actions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:47:y:2022:i:c:s1570677x22000958. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.