The Impacts of Maternal Constraints on Children's Demographic and Nutritional Welfarein Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper analysis the various consequences constraints on mothers may have for child-rearing practices and child survival in developing countries where high child mortality rates largely prevail. Child survival research has often focused on the action and responsibility of the individual, in which children’s survival has been understand as being under the sole control of mothers acting in a social vacuum. Scrutinizing, however, well-known analytical models to explain mothers" child rearing practices in developing countries and analyzing case studies, it becomes apparent that mothers are embedded in complex social contexts and relationships that have a strong impact on their ability to care for their children. Hence, the well-being and survival of children in developing countries cannot be fully understood if mothers’ childrearing behavior is analyzed without assessing their social surroundings. Rather the socio-economic and cultural constraints that mothers experience tend to have a strong effect on the children"s demographic and nutritional welfare. Such considerations should be taken into account when implementing health policies or programs to enhance the well-being of children and their families in developing countries.