Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Infant Growth in Guatemala

摘要

Using a multivariate model of infant growth, this study analyzes data from a longitudinal nutrition study and a cross-sectional survey of four eastern Guatemalan villages to determine the biological and socioeconomic determinants of infant growth, with specific focus on family size variables. After a review of the pertinent literature and a description of the study's design and of the characteristics of the sample, study results are presented. Differences were found among factors significant for infant growth during the child's first year. Policy implications are that family size should be seen as a cluster of mechanisms including maternal health, available child care time, food resources, and crowding; and nutrition interventions. The author recommends several other interventions, e.g., family planning and breastfeeding, but cautions that these are not causally linked to the data. She also recommends that, to resolve some of the model-building limitations and data problems encountered in this study, future researchers sample a wider range of more favorable infant growth (not just the malnourished) with greater heterogeneity of such crucial factors as income, environmental sanitation, and access to potable water.