Nutrition and infant behavior: a replication study in the Katmandu Valley, Nepal

Abstract

As a cross-cultural comparison with an earlier study done in West Bengal, behavioral observations were made in the Katmandu Valley of 36 well-nourished and 38 undernourished children, 7 to 18 months of age, and their mothers. Undernourished children showed lowered levels of exploratory activity and attachment behavior, especially distance interaction, and a heightened need for physical closeness to the mother. Moreover, among the undernourished children the level of intellectual performance and the overall time spent in play were decreased, while time spent sucking at the breast was increased. In contrast to the West Bengali study, maternal behavior showed no differences between the two nutritional groups, and the intercorrelations between maternal and child scores showed similar or parallel patterns of reciprocity for the well-nourished and the undernourished children. No sex or age differences were found. The findings were interpreted to support Levitsky and Barnes' hypothesis of “functional isolation” as a mechanism between undernutrition and environmental stimulation to produce long-term behavioral changes. In addition, hunger as a motivational state, expressed as increased sucking, may interfere with other motivational determinants that might lead to exploration and/or increased social contacts.