Year: 2012
Type: report
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The exposure to violence in utero and early in life has adverse\nimpacts on children's age-adjusted height (z-scores). Using the experience\nof the Kashmir insurgency, I find that stress during pregnancy and the limited\naccess to health services in more conflict-affected regions of Jammu and Kashmir have\ndifferent regional and cohort effects. Furthermore, the link between children's health at birth, mother's health\nduring pregnancy, and children's height in the context of negative exogenous shocks has not been fully\nresearched yet. Children small at birth and children with anemic mothers are shorter for their age. \nOverall, children more affected by the insurgency are 0.9 to 1.4 standard deviations smaller compared with children \nless affected by the insurgency. The effect is stronger for children who were born during peaks in violence. Gender differences are small. \nFinally, a robust finding in the health literature is that shorter children perform worse in schools, in jobs, and are sicker\nthroughout their life. Here, children already negatively affected by the insurgency\nin their height, are also more likely to be sick in the two weeks prior to the\nsurvey.
Author: Anton Parlow
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Language: English
Topic: Health and Conflict Studies
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1856438996