The Targets for Stunting Prevention Policies in Papua, Indonesia: What Mothers' Characteristics Matter?

Factors Related to Stunting Incidence in Toddlers with Working Mothers in Indonesia

Previous studies have suggested that a toddler stunting is closely related to maternal characteristics. Working mothers, as a group, are vulnerable to having a stunted toddler. The present research aimed to analyze factors related to stunting incidence in toddlers with working mothers in Indonesia. The study sampled 44,071 toddlers with working mothers. The final stage used a multinomial logistic regression test. The study found that working mothers living in rural areas have a higher probability of having stunted or severely stunted toddlers. Maternal age partially affects the incidence of stunted toddlers in Indonesia. Mothers in the ≤19 age group are 1.461 (95% CI 1.140-1.872) times more likely than those in the ≥45 group to have a severely stunted toddler. Those who were never married were 1.433 (95% CI 1.006-2.043) times more likely than those who were divorced/widowed to have a severely stunted toddler. A married mother was 0.734 (95% CI 0.617-0.872) times less likely to have a severely stunted toddler than a divorced/widowed mother. Better education is protective against working mothers having stunted toddlers. Moreover, the present study found that the toddler's age determined the incidence of stunted toddlers. This study concluded that there are five variables related to stunting incidence in toddlers with working mothers in Indonesia: residence, age, marital status, education, and toddler age.

Stunting among children under two years in Indonesia: Does maternal education matter?

BACKGROUND

Measuring height for age is one of the essential indicators for evaluating children's growth. The study analyzes the association between maternal education and stunting among children under two years in Indonesia.

METHODS

The study employed secondary data from the 2017 Indonesia Nutritional Status Monitoring Survey. The unit of analysis was children under two years, and the study obtained weighted samples of 70,293 children. Besides maternal education, other independent variables analyzed in this study were residence, maternal age, maternal marital status, maternal employment, children's age, and gender. In the final stage, the study occupied a multivariate test by binary logistic regression test.

RESULTS

The results show the proportion of stunted children under two years in Indonesia nationally is 20.1%. Mothers in primary school and under education categories are 1.587 times more likely than mothers with a college education to have stunted children under two years (95% CI 1.576-1.598). Meanwhile, mothers with a junior high school education have a chance of 1.430 times more than mothers with a college education to have stunted children under two years (95% CI 1.420-1.440). Moreover, mothers with education in the senior high school category have 1.230 times more chances than mothers with a college education to have stunted children under two years (95% CI 1.222-1.238).

CONCLUSION

The study concluded that the maternal education level was associated with stunting children under two years in Indonesia. The lower the mother's level of education, the higher the chances of a mother having stunted children under two years.