Page 67 - 5th APA Conference Program Book Final
P. 67
identify socioemotional issues, enhance social-skills, improve coping strategies and build resilience among OAC.
78 Does Early Childhood Malnutrition affect Cognitive Skill Development in Children:
Evidence from India?
Ronak Paul, Abhishek Singh
International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India
Categories
13. Others (Education, Wellbeing and Happiness etc.)
Abstract
Malnutrition during early childhood is known to impair cognitive skill development in children. This study provides
evidence, of the effect of malnutrition during early childhood on the cognitive skill development of Indian children,
which is limited. To examine the association between malnutrition and cognitive skill development among Indian
children we used data from two rounds (round I in 2005 and round II in 2012) of the India Human Development
Survey (IHDS). Using multivariable ordered logistic regression models we examined the association between
stunting and the three indicators of cognitive skill development – reading skill, mathematical skill and writing skill.
We performed sensitivity analysis to see if the regression results varied for different categories of the selected
independent variables. The results show that stunting during early childhood impairs cognitive skill development
in Indian children. We found that the severity of stunting increases the deficit in the cognitive skill development of
children. We also find evidence of the positive effect of parental education on the cognitive development of their
children. The findings re-establish the importance of food security programmes such as the mid-day meal
programme and their effective implementation to ensure that Indian children do not suffer from cognitive
disabilities.
1053 Influence of Birth Size and Postnatal Care on the Learning Outcomes of Indian
Children
Rashmi Rashmi, Ronak Paul
International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India
Categories
13. Others (Education, Wellbeing and Happiness etc.)
Abstract
Birth size and postnatal care in children is known to impact their learning outcomes during the later stages of their
life. However, research evidence documenting the above phenomenon is limited. Our study provides evidence of
the effect of birth size and post-natal care on the learning outcomes of Indian children. To meet the study objective
we use the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) Round I and Round II panel data. We used quantile regression
model to find out the effect of birth size and postnatal care on the three indicators of learning outcomes – reading
skill, mathematical skill and writing skill of Indian children. The findings of the study show that children born with
67 | P a g e
