Benjamin T. Crookston|Whitney Schott|Santiago Cueto|Kirk A. Dearden|Patrice L. Engle|Andreas Georgiadis|Elizabeth A. Lundeen|Mary E. Penny|Aryeh D. Stein|Jere R. Behrman
Postinfancy growth, schooling, and cognitive achievement: Young Lives
Boston University|Group for the Analysis of Development|Brigham Young University|California Polytechnic State University
early life growth failure resulting cognitive deficits often assumed difficult reverse infancywe used data young lives observational cohort 8062 children ethiopia india peru vietnam determine whether changes growth infancy associated schooling cognitive achievement age 8 ywe represented growth heightforage z score 1 haz1 heightforage z score 8 predicted haz1 also characterized growth recovered stunted age 1 age 8 faltered stunted age 1 stunted age 8 persistently stunted stunted ages 1 8 never stunted stunted ages 1 8 outcome measures assessed age 8 ythe haz1 inversely associated overage grade positively associated mathematics achievement reading comprehension receptive vocabulary unpredicted growth 1 8 age also inversely associated overage grade range across countries 080084 positively associated mathematics achievement effectsize range 005010 reading comprehension 002010 receptive vocabulary 004008 children recovered linear growth better outcomes children persistently stunted generally different children experienced growth falteringimprovements child growth early faltering might significant benefits schooling cognitive achievement hence although early interventions remain critical interventions improve nutrition preprimary early primary schoolage children also merit consideration