Early childhood stunting and later behaviour and school achievement

Background: Stunting in early childhood is common in developing countries and is associated with poorer cognition and school achievement in later childhood. The effect of stunting on children's behaviours is not as well established and is examined here. Method: Children who were stunted at age 9 to 24 months and had taken part in a 2‐year intervention programme of psychosocial stimulation with or without nutritional supplementation were reexamined at age 11–12 years and compared with non‐stunted children from the same neighbourhoods. Their school and home behaviours were assessed using the Rutter Teacher and Parent Scales and school achievement was measured using the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and the Suffolk Reading Scales. Results: No significant intervention effects were found among the stunted groups. Thus data from the four intervention groups were aggregated for subsequent analyses, comparing all 116 stunted children with 80 non‐stunted children. Controlling for social background variables, the stunted group had more conduct difficulties (p