Food Matters for Children’s Learning: Nutritional Status and Academic Achievement among Ethiopian Children

초록

Food insecurity is theorized to shape children’s learning through two channels: acutely, through hunger and fatigue, and chronically, through the growth deficits that constrain neurodevelopment. Using Young Lives data from selected Ethiopian sentinel sites (2006–2016), covering 1,751 unique children and 5,648 child-round observations, this study asks which channel is detectable. Reported household food insecurity, recorded in Rounds 3–5, is only weakly correlated with anthropometric status, indicating that reported food access and nutritional status are distinct constructs. We therefore measure children’s nutritional status, the growth outcome through which food insecurity is expected to operate, using continuous anthropometric z-scores (HAZ, WAZ, BAZ) and categorical undernutrition indicators defined by WHO z-score thresholds (stunting, underweight, thinness). Test scores were standardized within survey round, and pooled OLS regressions with child-clustered robust standard errors were estimated for receptive vocabulary (Rounds 2–5; 2006–2016) and mathematics achievement (Rounds 3–5; 2009–2016), alongside lagged-exposure and value-added specifications. HAZ and WAZ are positively associated with learning outcomes (HAZ: mathematics 0.095 SD, 95% CI [0.065, 0.125]; vocabulary 0.079 SD, [0.056, 0.102]; both p < 0.001), while stunting and underweight, indicators of chronic deprivation, are negatively associated (stunting: mathematics −0.116, vocabulary −0.099; both p < 0.001). BAZ shows only a marginal association with vocabulary and none with mathematics, and thinness is not significant in either domain. Key limitations include the observational pooled design, which precludes causal inference, the lack of school-level controls, restricted geographic coverage of sentinel sites, and selective attrition toward more advantaged households. Learning outcomes among Ethiopian children show more consistent associations with linear growth indicators than with body-mass measures.

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