Is Positive Deviance in Growth Simply the Converse of Negative Deviance?

Abstract

The term “positive deviance” has been widely used to describe children who do not show evidence of protein-energy malnutrition when many others living in a similar unfavourable environment are malnourished. Implicit in this concept is that the determinants of positive deviance are something more than the converse of the determinants of poor growth. We modified and operationalized this concept using data on child growth from rural southern India. We divided children on the basis of anthropometry into positive deviants and what we called negative deviants and median growers. Our analysis suggests that the mechanisms producing positive and negative deviance are not always opposites or mirror images of each other. This finding has important implications for targeting and intervention strategies.