Dataset Information

Girls start life on an uneven playing field: Evidence from lowland rural Nepal.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Evolutionary research on the sex ratio at birth (SRB) has focused on explaining variability within and between populations, and whether parental fitness is maximized by producing daughters or sons. We tested predictors of SRB in a low-income setting, to understand whether girls differ from boys in their likelihood of being born into families with the capacity to invest in them, which has implications for their future health and fitness.

Methodology

We used data from a cluster randomized control trial from lowland rural Nepal (16 115 mother-child dyads). We applied principal component analysis to extract two composite indices reflecting maternal socio-economic and reproductive (parity, age) capital. We fitted mixed-effects logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios of having a girl in association with these individual factors and indices.

Results

The SRB was 112. Compared to the global reference SRB (105), there were seven missing girls per 100 boys. Uneducated, early-marrying, poorer and shorter mothers were more likely to give birth to girls. Analysing composite maternal indices, lower socio-economic and reproductive capital were independently associated with a greater likelihood of having a girl.

Conclusions and implications

In this population, girls start life facing composite disadvantages, being more likely than boys to be born to mothers with lower socio-economic status and reproductive capital. Both physiological and behavioural mechanisms may contribute to these epidemiological associations. Differential early exposure by sex to maternal factors may underpin intergenerational cycles of gender inequality, mediated by developmental trajectory, education and socio-economic status.

SUBMITTER: Marphatia AA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9384836 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Girls start life on an uneven playing field: Evidence from lowland rural Nepal.

Marphatia Akanksha A AA Saville Naomi S NS Manandhar Dharma S DS Cortina-Borja Mario M Reid Alice M AM Wells Jonathan C K JCK

Evolution, medicine, and public health 20220804 1

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Evolutionary research on the sex ratio at birth (SRB) has focused on explaining variability within and between populations, and whether parental fitness is maximized by producing daughters or sons. We tested predictors of SRB in a low-income setting, to understand whether girls differ from boys in their likelihood of being born into families with the capacity to invest in them, which has implications for their future health and fitness.<h4>Methodology</h4>We use ...[more]

PMID: 35990287

Similar Datasets

Project description:Abstract Objectives Maternal factors shape the risk of infant undernutrition, however the contributions of age at marriage versus age at pregnancy are rarely disentangled. We explore these issues in a population from lowland rural Nepal, where median ages at marriage and first pregnancy are 15 and 17 years respectively and marriage almost always precedes pregnancy. Methods We analyzed data on first‐time mothers (n = 3002) from a cluster‐randomized trial (2012–2015). Exposures were ages at marriage and pregnancy, categorized into groups. Outcomes were z‐scores for weight (WAZ), length (LAZ), head circumference (HCAZ), and weight‐for‐length (WLZ), and prevalence of wasting and stunting, for neonates (<8 days) and infants (6–12 months). Mixed linear and logistic regression models tested associations of marriage and pregnancy ages with outcomes, adjusting for parental education, household assets, caste, landholding, seasonality, child sex, intervention arm, randomization strata and cluster. Results For neonates, pregnancy <18 years predicted lower LAZ, and <19 years predicted lower WAZ and HCAZ. Results were largely null for marriage age, however early pregnancy and marriage at 10–13 years independently predicted neonatal stunting. For infants, earlier pregnancy was associated with lower LAZ and HCAZ, with a trend to lower WAZ for marriage 10–13 years. Early pregnancy, but not early marriage, predicted infant stunting. Conclusions Early marriage and pregnancy were associated with poorer growth, mainly in terms of LAZ and HCAZ. Associations were stronger for neonatal than infant outcomes, suggesting pregnancy is more susceptible to these stresses. Early marriage and pregnancy may index different social and biological factors predicting child undernutrition. Early marriage and early pregnancy showed independent associations with the risk of infant undernutrition in a low‐income rural setting in lowland Nepal. Early marriage acted primarily as a gateway to early reproduction, whereas early pregnancy was associated with infant undernutrition both at birth and in the second 6 months. The main associations of early pregnancy with infant outcomes were deficits in linear growth markers, suggesting that infants recover from earlier deficits in nutritional status by re‐allocating energy from linear growth.

Dataset Information

Girls start life on an uneven playing field: Evidence from lowland rural Nepal.

Background and objectives

Methodology

Results

Conclusions and implications

Publications

Girls start life on an uneven playing field: Evidence from lowland rural Nepal.

Similar Datasets

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