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Sociocultural risk factors of birth size of child in ethnically homogenous tribal population in India

Rahul Bawankule, DYPU School Of Public Health, Navi Mumbai

Given the limited evidence on the effect of socio-cultural practices on a child’s birth size, the study aims to identify the sociocultural risk factors of smaller than average birth size in an ethnically homogenous tribal population in India. We used the data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 conducted in India in 2015-16. We used Fearon’s (2003) index of Ethno-linguistic fractionalization (ELF) for dividing tribal populations into homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. We applied a multivariable binary logistic regression model to identify the sociocultural risk factors. The prevalence of smaller than average birth size was 17% in an ethnically homogenous tribal population in India. The women being polygynous union were 1.60 (95% CI: 1.31-1.95), those having blood-related consanguineous marriage were 1.26 (95% CI: 1.07-1.48), and women using alcohol were 1.24 times (95% CI: 1.10-1.40) as likely to deliver smaller than average size births compared to their counterparts. The study identifies polygynous union, consanguineous marriage, and maternal use of alcohol are significant sociocultural risk factors of smaller than average birth size in India. The significant reduction in the prevalence of smaller than average birth size can be achieved through the activities addressing the sociocultural practices in tribal populations.

Keywords: Cultural and linguistic demography, Culture, ethnicity, race, religion and language, Children and youth, Fertility and childbirth

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 177. Ethnicity, Religion and Tribe: Sociocultural Influences on Demographic Behaviour