Singh Abhishek, Upadhyay Ashish Kumar, Singh Ashish, Kumar Kaushalendra
Stud Fam Plann. 2017 Mar;48(1):55-71. doi: 10.1111/sifp.12017. Epub 2017 Feb 20.
Evidence on the association between unintended births and poor child development in developing countries is limited. We used data from three waves of the Young Lives study on childhood poverty conducted in Andhra Pradesh in 2002, 2006-07, and 2009 to examine the association between unintended births and poor child development in India. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association between unintended births and four indicators of child development-height-for-age Z-score (HAZ), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) score, Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) score, and Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) test score. The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique was also used to analyze data. Children who were reported as unintended at birth had significantly lower HAZ, PPVT, and EGRA scores compared with those who were reported as intended. PSM results support the findings from the multivariable linear regressions. Our findings provide evidence on the association between unintended births and poor child development in India. There may be a need to reposition family planning within India's reproductive and child health care programs. Future studies must take into account the unobserved heterogeneity that our study could not address fully.
关于发展中国家意外生育与儿童发育不良之间关联的证据有限。我们利用2002年、2006 - 2007年以及2009年在安得拉邦开展的三轮“青年生活”儿童贫困研究数据，来考察印度意外生育与儿童发育不良之间的关联。我们使用多变量线性回归模型来检验意外生育与儿童发育的四个指标之间的关联，这四个指标分别是年龄别身高Z评分（HAZ）、皮博迪图片词汇测验（PPVT）分数、数学成就测验（MAT）分数以及早期年级阅读评估（EGRA）测验分数。倾向得分匹配（PSM）技术也被用于分析数据。与那些被报告为计划内出生的儿童相比，那些被报告为意外出生的儿童的HAZ、PPVT和EGRA分数显著更低。PSM结果支持了多变量线性回归的研究结果。我们的研究结果为印度意外生育与儿童发育不良之间的关联提供了证据。在印度的生殖和儿童保健项目中，可能需要重新定位计划生育工作。未来的研究必须考虑到我们的研究未能充分解决的未观察到的异质性问题。
