Characteristics of physical growth of schoolchildren in Mongolia and their forming factors

Abstract

The article considers the findings of hygienic assessments of educational conditions in urban and rural schools in Mongolia and socio-economic conditions of living of schoolchildren and analysis of anthropometric measurements of schoolchildren aged of 7-16 years in relation to the assessment of harmonicity of their physical development. Hygienic conditions in Mongolian schools are characterized by improper organization of the educational - accomplishment process, high occupancy rate in classes causing insufficient space for a pupil and disconformity of school furniture parameters of school desks and chairs to growth and age requirements of pupils. Comparative assessment of socio-economic factors revealed (выделено автором) that the majority (84.1%) of rural pupils reside in uncomfortable houses and gerdwellings, 58.5 % - in large families with many children, 46.3 % - in families with poor living conditions. There were obtained data about differences in physical development of urban and rural schoolchildren pronounced with age by the gain in the number of children with disharmonious development and children with lower physical indices of the development, delayed by 1-2 years appearance of the crossing of growth and growth shift typical for rural children in comparison with their urban counterparts. According to results of multivariate regression analysis most significant factors for the formation of physical development of school children in descending order are academic workload, the place of residence, the number of children in the family, uncomfortable living conditions, household income and parent’s education. In the presence of these factors, the risk of the formation of disharmonious physical growth of school children increases by 1.8-2.8 times. The probability of the risk offormation of disharmonious physical development of schoolchildren living in rural areas was found to be by 2.5 times more than for their urban counterparts. The results can be usedfor scientific substantiation and development of targeted health measures.