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Grandparents and Children's stunting in sub-Saharan Africa
Sandor Schrijner1, Jeroen Smits1
1Department of Economics, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, The Netherlands.
Insights
Grandparental co-residence, particularly with grandmothers aged 50-75, is linked to reduced stunting in children across sub-Saharan Africa. Grandfathers
Area of Science:
- Demography
- Public Health
- Sociology
Background:
- Global stunting affects 159 million children under five.
- Over one-third of stunted children reside in Africa.
- Grandparental co-residence is common in sub-Saharan Africa.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between grandparental co-residence and childhood stunting in sub-Saharan Africa.
- To explore how household and contextual factors moderate this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Multilevel logistic regression analysis.
- Analysis of data from 344,748 children aged 6-60 months in 31 sub-Saharan African countries.
- Interaction analysis to examine moderating effects.
Main Results:
- Children with co-residing grandmothers aged 50-75 had significantly lower odds of stunting.
- Younger or older grandmothers were associated with higher stunting odds.
- Grandfather co-residence was linked to reduced stunting in girls, particularly in poor or polygamous households.
Conclusions:
- The age and presence of co-residing grandparents, especially grandmothers, play a significant role in mitigating childhood stunting.
- Targeted interventions considering grandparental involvement and household characteristics may help reduce stunting rates.
Abstract:
Globally an estimated 159 million children under 5 years of age are being too short for one's age (stunted). More than one third of these children is living in Africa. Given the substantial number of sub-Saharan African (SSA) children living in households with co-residing grandparents and the negative effects of stunting on productivity and economic growth, gaining insight into the role grandparents play for children's stunting, has become increasingly important. By applying multilevel logistic regression analysis on a database with information on 344,748 children aged 6-60 months living in 31 SSA countries, the strength of the relationship between grandparental co-residence and children's stunting is examined. Interaction analysis is used to explore how this relationship is moderated by characteristics of the household and of the context in which the household is situated. Children in households with a co-residing grandmother have significantly lower odds of being stunted than other children, provided that the grandmother is in the 50-75 age range. When the grandmother is very young or very old, the likelihood of being stunted is higher. For grandfathers, no significant overall relationship is found, but our findings show that co-residence of a grandfather is associated with less stunting of girls, in poor households and in polygamous households.