Child growth and nutritional status in a high-poverty community in easternKentucky

The research reported in this paper examines the relationship between house hold socioeconomic measures, child growth, and nutritional status in a comm unity in eastern Kentucky with a high rate of poverty. It is based on the p remise that child growth and nutritional status reflect the social circumst ances in which they occur. 21.6% of the children exhibited low height (<15t h percentile of National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS] reference valu es), with 13% of the girls exhibiting stunting (<5th percentile). Thirty-th ree percent of the children exhibited overweight, and 13% exhibited obesity (>85th percentile and >95th percentile of National Health and Nutrition Ex amination Survey [NHANES] reference values, respectively); 21.4% of boys we re obese, compared to 8.7% of girls. Analysis of variance indicated that ch ild stature is best explained by the father's education level interacting w ith employment status, and by the mother's employment status interacting wi th household poverty level. Weight is best explained by the mother's employ ment status. However, the relationships among socioeconomic measures and gr owth outcomes differed by gender of the child. These issues are discussed i n light of the anthropology literature and the situation in Bridges County, Kentucky where the research took place. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.