Grades of undernutrition and socioeconomic status influence cognitive development in school children of Kolkata

Abstract

Cognitive development of children is influenced by different environmental factors like nutritional and socio-economic status. The objectives of the present study were to determine the influence of grades of undernutrition and socio-economic status (SES) on the cognitive development of school children of Kolkata. Five hundred sixty six (566) school children having 5-12 years of age were selected from different schools of Kolkata. The cognitive development was measured by the scores of Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM). The chronic and acute nutritional statuses were measured from height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) Z scores respectively with reference to the values of WHO. SES was determined by updated Kuppuswamy scale. The prevalences of undernutrition in the observed children were 57.95% (according to HAZ) and 52.82% (according to WAZ). The age dependent growth curve of RCPM scores of the observed children remains in between the 10th and 25th centile of British children. The children belonging to superior and intellectual deficit IQ classes were 21.55 and 36.40%, respectively of the total subjects. Most of the subjects belong to lower middle (39.93%) and upper middle (36.40%) class of SES. RCPM scores of school children were gradually decreased with the grades of undernutrition and SES. RCPM scores were significantly correlated with HAZ, WAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001) and strongly associated with HAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001, P < 0.05). Present study indicates that cognitive development of school children of Kolkata is influenced by the grade of undernutrition and SES.

Factors associated With the development of motor proficiency in school children of Kolkata: A cross‐sectional study to assess the role of chronic nutritional and socio‐economic status

“…Cognitive development was measured by Raven's colored progressive matrices, a well‐validated measure of basic cognitive functioning for different cultural, ethnic, and socio‐economic groups (Raven, ). We found that Raven's colored progressive matrices scores of school children gradually decreased with lower levels of undernutrition and SES (Ghosh et al, ).…”

Linguistic Diversity, Multilingualism, and Cognitive Skills: A Study of Disadvantaged Children in India

“…A key factor affecting learning outcomes is social class. More specifically, socio-economic status (SES) is one of the crucial factors influencing children's cognitive performance (Brito and Noble 2014;Ghosh et al 2015;Burneo-Garcés et al 2019), and children of low SES are more likely to underperform than children from more affluent middle-class families. Although middle class children in India are more likely to attend private schools, as pointed out by the ASER 2016 report (Pratham 2017), the differences between children's performance in government schools and private schools cannot necessarily be attributed to differences in the effectiveness of these two school types, because they may also be due to the interplay of a wide range of other variables, including SES (Alcott and Rose 2017).…”

6-7 Yaş Grubu Erkek Öğrenci̇leri̇n Sosyo- Ekonomi̇k Düzeyleri̇ İle Temel Motor Beceri̇ler Arasindaki̇ Farkin İncelenmesi̇

“…Yapılan bir araştırmaya göre erkek öğrencilerin ince ve kaba motor gelişimi için beslenme durumları ve sosyo-ekonomik statülerinin motor gelişim için önemli belirleyiciler olduğu belirlenmiştir [20]. Çocuğun motor gelişimini olgunlaşma ve hormonlar gibi birçok biyolojik faktör etkilemektedir.…”