The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
In this paper, I examine the relationship between three distinct attitudes of mothers (pro-boy, egalitarian, and pro-girl) and stunting among boys and girls of age 0–14 years in India using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2004–2005. Probit model estimates suggest that mothers’ pro-girl attitudes are associated with less likelihood of observing stunting among girls and boys. Additional analysis by wealth categories shows that stunting among girls reduces when they have mothers with pro-girl attitudes and live in wealthy households. Robustness tests conducted with “severely stunted” as the dependent variable confirm the findings.
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