Joint Effects of Parenting and Nutrition Status on Child Development : Evidence from Rural Cambodia
Substantial work has demonstrated that early nutrition and home environments, including the degree to which children receive cognitive stimulation and emotional support from parents, play a profound role in influencing early childhood development....
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/470751531410791588/Joint-effects-of-parenting-and-nutrition-status-on-child-development-evidence-from-rural-Cambodia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30002 |
| Summary: | Substantial work has demonstrated that
early nutrition and home environments, including the degree
to which children receive cognitive stimulation and
emotional support from parents, play a profound role in
influencing early childhood development. Yet, less work has
documented the joint influences of parenting and nutrition
status on child development among children in the preschool
years living in low-income countries. Using panel data on
parenting, nutrition status, and early developmental
outcomes of about 7,000 Cambodian preschool-age children,
this paper demonstrates that inequities in early development
associated with family wealth are evident at the start of
preschool and increase over time. A significant share of
these inequalities can be explained by differences in
parental stimulation and early nutrition status. Better
educated parents engage in better parental activities that
stimulate children's development. However, the positive
association between parental activities and child outcomes
is particularly strong for non-stunted children, and
parental activities can only explain about 8-14 percent of
the cognitive gap between the lowest and highest wealth
quintiles. The results highlight the need for integrated
interventions that address both parenting and early
nutrition, also suggesting that parenting interventions for
the most disadvantaged families should be carefully designed
and evaluated to ensure maximum effectiveness. |
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