Relationship between household structure, maternal autonomy and undernutrition in Brazilian children

Abstract

The prevalence of child malnutrition is high in many regions of the world, but especially in developing countries. A woman's autonomy may be an important social factor responsible for influencing child nutritional status. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the relationship between maternal autonomy and stunting in Brazil. A cross‐sectional analysis of the Women's National Demographic Health Survey 2006 was conducted. Demographic, health and anthropometric data for 3,399 mothers and their youngest child <60 months were used. Maternal autonomy was estimated by the decision‐making power of each woman in their household. Using logistic regression analyses, women with high autonomy, indicated by the final say on what items are to be cooked, were more likely to have a stunted child compared to women with low autonomy [(OR) = 1.856; 95% (CI) 1.004, 3.433], independent of individual and household level factors. Maternal autonomy for own health care, child's health care, daily purchases, visits to family/relatives and making large household purchases did not have a statistically significant association with stunting. In conclusion, based on the results of this study, we found no significant relationship between maternal autonomy and child stunting, possibly due to the low number of stunted children of low‐income households in this national represented sample.