Household resources and seasonal patterns of child growth in rural Timor‐Leste

Abstract

Results highlight the importance of subsistence-based resource stabilization and of early intervention to prevent growth faltering. Predicting growth using ecological models requires small-scale investigation, as variation exists among rural areas within an ecologically and culturally diverse country.

Growth curves and the international standard: How children's growth reflects challenging conditions in rural Timor‐Leste

“…Relative to the optima, older Timorese male children have poorer growth than do females in both height and BMI, as in Sanders et al, () and Spencer, Sanders, Canisio Amaral, & Judge, (). While growth velocity for these children is higher in males than in females (fitting the normal biological pattern), the sex differences indicated by the z ‐scores confirm that the magnitude of this difference between males and females is less than that of normal sexual dimorphism.…”

“…To confirm if these curves are suitable as a reference for all rural children, there must be a nation‐wide focus on collecting anthropometric information to gain a better understanding of the country's child growth profile. Previous work using a subset of this data has shown differences in growth between the two rural locations, with children in Ossu shorter at all ages than those in Natarbora (Spencer et al, ). Presenting a curve comprised of the children in both locations thus covers at least some of the range of growth variation across ecologically different locations in rural Timor‐Leste.…”

Determinants of objectively measured physical activity in rural East Timorese children

“…Maximum daily temperature in the wet season in Natarbora is 32°C, whereas Ossu is cooler at 28°C (Seeds of Life, ). Subjects were recruited from children participating in an ongoing longitudinal study of family ecology and growth by Judge and colleagues (Reghupathy et al, ; Spencer et al, ). At 6 month to annual intervals, resident children were measured for height and weight, and socio‐ecological data on the household were collected via interview.…”

“…The inclusion of mother's height excluded 27 activity measurements due to missing data, as most mothers of fostered children could not be measured. Ossu and Natarbora were modeled separately for growth and ecology models, as both growth and the interactions between growth and household ecology differ between the two locations (Judge et al, ; Spencer et al, ; Spencer et al, ).…”

“…In this article, we first characterize the physical activity patterns of rural Timorese children under free‐living conditions though accelerometry, and determine the relationship of activity to growth. We then examine the regional and household‐level determinants of physical activity in a subsistence agriculture setting across two geophysically and ecologically different rural locations (coastal Natarbora and mountainous Ossu) with demonstrated variation in children's growth (Judge, Sanders, Spencer, & Sumich, ; Spencer, Sanders, Canisio Amaral, & Judge, ).…”