1. Effects of short birth spacing on birth-order differences in child stunting: Evidence from India.
- Author
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Dhingra S and Pingali PL
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Body Height, Child, Preschool, Female, Growth Disorders epidemiology, Humans, India epidemiology, Maternal Age, Pregnancy, Young Adult, Birth Intervals, Birth Order, Growth Disorders etiology
- Abstract
Do firstborn children have a height advantage? Empirical findings have found mostly that, yes, second or higher-order children often lag behind firstborns in height outcomes, especially in developing countries. However, empirical investigations of birth-order effects on child height overlook the potential impact that birth spacing can have. We provide an explanation for the negative birth-order effect on stunting outcomes for young Indian children and show it is driven by short preceding-birth spacing. We find that firstborn children are taller than children of higher birth order: The height-for-age gap for third (or higher)-order children is twice the gap for children second in birth order. However, this pattern is observed when spacing between later-born children and their immediate elder siblings is fewer than 3 y. Interestingly, the firstborn height advantage disappears when later-born children are born at least 3 y after their elder siblings. Thus, our findings indicate that spacing length between children explains differences in height, over birth order. Although India's family planning policy has resulted in a substantial reduction in total fertility, its achievement in spacing subsequent births has been less impressive. In showing that spacing can alleviate or aggravate birth-order effects on attained height, our study fills an evidence gap: Reducing fertility alone may not be sufficient in overcoming negative birth-order effects. To reduce the detrimental effects of birth order on child stunting, policy responses-and therefore research priorities-require a stronger focus on increasing the time period between births., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)
- Published
- 2021
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