Influence of malnutrition on social maturity, visual motor coordination & memory in rural school children

The social competence, visual motor coordination and memory functions of 1336 rural primary school children in the age group 6-8 yr were studied in relation to their nutritional status and socio-environmental factors. Children with grades, I, II and III malnutrition scored 4.4, 8.5 and 11.8 points lower respectively as compared to those in normal nutrition for the total social quotient. The effect was more marked in stunted wasted children. These rural children performed poorly on areas; communication, socialization and occupation, in grades II and III malnutrition their scores being below average (less than 90). Environmental factors like family size and type, economic sufficiency, and father's education also played a significant role in determining the social competence in girls. The scores for visual motor coordination (Bender Gestalt test) increased with severity of malnutrition (scores normal, 9.9 and grade III, 11.3) being statistically significant (P less than 0.01). Observations on memory test indicated that malnutrition had a significant but very weak relationship with immediate and delayed memory. The boys in grade II malnutrition had significantly lower immediate memory scores, as compared to normal boys for all the 3 modes of presentation (P less than 0.05, P less than 0.05; and P less than 0.001 respectively). In the girls, this was true only with respect to pictures. Further, for delayed memory, boys in grade II malnutrition scored poorly for pictures and words (P less than 0.05 for both).