Page 126 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Child malnutrition in rural India

and gender (“1” male, “2” female) of the children; age Table 2. Percentage distribution of background
(“1” <25 years, “2” >25 years) and education (“1” lower characteristics in the study population, 2017
than secondary education, “2” secondary education and Variables % n
above) of mother; and household characteristics such as
transformed Herfindahl index (“1” very low, “2” low, “3” Transformed Herfindahl index
moderate), caste (“1” general, “2” scheduled caste, “3” Very low 73 146
scheduled tribe, “4” OBC), type of house (“1” kaccha, “2” Low 18.5 37
semi-pucca) and farm size (“1” <1 ha, “2” more than 1 ha), Moderate 8.5 17
were used in this study. Age of the children
The inclusion of child’s characteristics (age, birth order, <2 years 38.5 77
and gender), mother’s characteristics (age and education), 2–3 years 25 50
and household characteristics (caste, type of house, and 4–5 years 36.5 73
farm size) has been approached in the previous studies Gender of the children
(Som et al., 2007; Talapalliwar & Garg, 2014; Imai et al., Male 52.5 105
2014; Khan & Raza, 2014; Kumar & Singh, 2013; Mandal
et al., 2014). Age and education of mother were categorized Female 47.5 95
according to the distribution of sample, while the farm size Birth order
was categorized by considering the distribution and area of First 66.5 133
landheld by the families. Second 33.5 67

According to Pal and Kar (2012), Simpson and Age of mother
Herfindahl indices are widely used measure of crop <25 years 58 116
diversification; therefore, the present study selected >25 years 42 84
the transformed Herfindahl index, out of various Education of mother
diversification indices, as the independent variable for Lower than secondary education 20.5 41
three principal reasons. First, the transformed Herfindahl Secondary education and above 79.5 159
index is the simplified form of Simpson index. Second, it is
transformed from Herfindahl index, and third, the value of Caste of the household
this index is based on the modified entropy index the value General 37 74
of this index followed the ranges of modified entropy index Scheduled caste 30 60
(Bhat & Salam, 2016). Scheduled tribe 15 30
OBC 18 36
2.5. Statistical analysis
Type of house
The entire analysis was carried out using SPSS software Kaccha 61 122
version 21.0. Statistical methods, including bivariate Semi-pucca 39 78
analysis, were used to analyze the percentage distribution
of child malnutrition parameters, such as underweight, Farm size of households (in ha)
stunting and wasting, and the background characteristics. <1 ha 55 110
Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate More than 1 ha 45 90
the relationship of background characteristics with the Total 200
outcome variable after controlling for several confounding Abbreviation: OBC: Other backward class.
factors.

3. Results the children aged <2 years, 36.5% aged 2–3years, and the
remaining 25% aged 4–5 years. It was found that more than
3.1. Profile of the study population half of the children (52.5%) were male, and a little less than
The socioeconomic and demographic spectrum of the half of them were female (47.5%). The majority (66.5%) of
respondents and their households are presented in Table 2. the children were from first birth order and the remaining
Most of the surveyed households were in the very low 33.5% were from second birth order.
category (73%) of the transformed Herfindahl index More than half (58%) of the mothers were less than
(THI), and only 18.5% and 8.5% of the households were in 25 years of age and 42% were 25 years old and older.
low and moderate categories, respectively. About 38.5% of More than three quarters of the mothers (about 79.5%)

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 120 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0324