Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 4648 SPH Tower, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2011 Aug;73(3):447-55. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.040. Epub 2011 Jun 17.
The high prevalence of child under-nutrition remains a profound challenge in the developing world. Maternal autonomy was examined as a determinant of breast feeding and infant growth in children 3-5 months of age. Cross-sectional baseline data on 600 mother-infant pairs were collected in 60 villages in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. The mothers were enrolled in a longitudinal randomized behavioral intervention trial. In addition to anthropometric and demographic measures, an autonomy questionnaire was administered to measure different dimensions of autonomy (e.g. decision-making, freedom of movement, financial autonomy, and acceptance of domestic violence). We conducted confirmatory factor analysis on maternal autonomy items and regression analyses on infant breast feeding and growth after adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic variables, and accounting for infant birth weight, infant morbidity, and maternal nutritional status. Results indicated that mothers with higher financial autonomy were more likely to breastfeed 3-5 month old infants. Mothers with higher participation in decision-making in households had infants that were less underweight and less wasted. These results suggest that improving maternal financial and decision-making autonomy could have a positive impact on infant feeding and growth outcomes.
发展中国家普遍面临儿童营养不足的问题。本研究旨在探讨产妇自主权对母乳喂养和婴儿生长的影响。研究人员在印度安得拉邦的 60 个村庄收集了 600 对母婴数据，这些母亲参与了一项纵向随机行为干预试验。除了进行人体测量和人口统计学评估外，研究人员还采用了自主权问卷来衡量不同维度的自主权（例如决策、行动自由、经济自主和对家庭暴力的接受程度）。研究人员对产妇自主权项目进行了验证性因子分析，并对婴儿母乳喂养和生长情况进行了回归分析，在调整了社会经济和人口统计学变量后，还考虑了婴儿出生体重、婴儿发病率和母亲营养状况等因素。结果表明，经济自主权较高的母亲更有可能母乳喂养 3-5 个月大的婴儿。在家庭决策中有更多参与的母亲，其婴儿体重不足和消瘦的情况更少。这些结果表明，提高产妇的经济和决策自主权可能对婴儿喂养和生长结果产生积极影响。
