This study examined the underlying demographic and socioeconomic determinants of child nutritional status in Egypt using data from the most recent round of the Demographic and Health Survey. The height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) was used as a measure of child growth. A quantile regression approach was used to allow for a heterogeneous effect of each determinant along different percentiles of the conditional distribution of the HAZ. A nationally representative sample of 13,682 children aged 0–4 years was drawn from the 2014 Egypt DHS. The multivariate analyses included a set of HAZ determinants commonly used in the literature. The conditional and unconditional analyses revealed a socioeconomic gradient in child nutritional status, in which children of low income/education households have a worse HAZ than those from high income/education households. The results also showed significant disparities in child nutritional status by demographic and social characteristics. The quantile regression results showed that the association between the demographic and socioeconomic factors and HAZ differed along the conditional HAZ distribution. Intervention measures need to consider the heterogeneous effect of the determinants of child nutritional status along the different percentiles of the HAZ distribution. There is no one-size-fits-all policy to combat child malnutrition; a multifaceted approach and targeted policy interventions are required to address this problem effectively.

Research has established that genetic differences among people explain a greater or smaller proportion of the variation in life outcomes in different environmental conditions. This review evaluates the results of recent educationally relevant behavioural genetic studies and meta-analyses in the context of recent trends in income and wealth distribution. The pattern of results suggests that inequality and social policies can have profound effects on the heritability of educational attainment and achievement in a population (Gene–Gini interplay). For example, heritability is generally higher at greater equality levels, suggesting that inequality stifles the expression of educationally relevant genetic propensities. The review concludes with a discussion of the mechanisms of Gene–Gini interplay and what the findings mean for efforts to optimize education for all people.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between maternal sensitivity and offspring intelligence in late childhood and adolescence. Secondary data (N=117) from the Block and Block (2006a, b) 30-year longitudinal study of Californian children, which began in the late 1960s, was used to test the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity in childhood would be predictive of late childhood and adolescent intelligence. Correlational analyses revealed that maternal sensitivity, as judged by raters viewing mother’s interactions with their children in a set of four joint structured cognitive tasks when the child was 5 years of age, was associated with verbal and performance IQ test scores when the children were ages 11 and 18. Using hierarchical regression to control for child sex, socioeconomic status, child temperament, child baseline IQ (as measured at age 4), mother’s level of education and mother’s emotional nurturance, it was found that the maternal sensitivity and child and adolescent IQ association held for verbal, but not performance IQ. Furthermore, a pattern emerged in which the association between maternal sensitivity and verbal IQ was stronger for adolescents with a lower baseline IQ. The results suggest that maternal sensitivity is associated with offspring verbal intelligence and that this association holds when numerous variables are accounted for. Additionally, this association may be stronger for children with lower IQs.

Although young people in South Africa are growing up in an era where their socioeconomic circumstances are seemingly better than those of their parents’ generation, they face greater risks in their trajectory to adulthood. This is mainly because the environment in which they are making sexual decisions is also rapidly evolving. Currently, South Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world among young people aged 15–24. This study examined the effect of sexual behaviours initiated in adolescence on enrolment in post-secondary education. The analysis was conducted using data from the longitudinal Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS, Waves 1–5) conducted in 2002–2009, which focused on young people’s sexual behaviours in Cape Town, South Africa. The sample was restricted to 3213 individuals who reported sexual debut during adolescence. Using logistic regression models fitted separately for males and females, the results revealed that several factors acted as either hindrances or protective factors to enrolment in post-secondary education. Early sexual debut (by age 17) was negatively associated with participation in tertiary education. Other variables that had a negative effect included not using contraception at first sex, parenthood, engaging in risky behaviours such as illegal substance use, cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol and neglect of school homework (doing less than an hour a day). Higher levels of parental education (except for paternal education in the female model), urban residence and higher aspirations and analogous behaviours (studying) acted as protective factors and were positively associated with post-secondary education initiation. The paper also points to the relationship between early sexual debut and persistent socioeconomic inequality and provides empirical evidence for re-thinking policy development and implementation around schooling and sex education.

There has been a secular decline in age at menarche since the 19th century. Early-maturing women are more likely to have their sexual debut at a younger age, which in turn gives rise to a host of reproductive health and social problems. This study used data from five waves of National Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in the Philippines between 1993 and 2013 to examine the trends and socioeconomic differentials in age at menarche and sexual debut. The changing trend in age at menarche and sexual debut was examined across birth cohorts, and logistic regressions were used to identify the determinants of early sexual debut. In the Philippines, the mean and median ages at menarche declined from 13.2 years and 12.6 years, respectively, among young women born in 1973–1977, to 12.9 years and 12.3 years, respectively, among those born in 1993–1997. The proportion who had their sexual debut by age 20 increased from 41.2% for the 1968–1972 birth cohort to 53.4% for the 1988–1992 birth cohort. Filipino women with low education, from poor families and living in rural areas were more likely to have earlier sexual debut despite attaining menarche at a later age as compared with their higher educated counterparts, and those from wealthier families and urban areas. Logistic regression analysis showed that, besides marital status, women’s education and age at menarche were important determinants of early sexual debut. However, ethnicity, place of residence and family wealth had no significant effects on age at menarche. An increasing proportion of young women were found to be having unprotected sexual debut and at a younger age, with health and social ramifications. Hence, apart from increasing the enrolment of girls in schools and discouraging teenage marriage, there is a need for social and health agencies to implement appropriate adolescent sexual and reproductive health programmes such as counselling and educational campaigns, as well as support services, to address sexual problems among the youth.

The aim of this study was to test whether Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1) and Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) vary in relation to social class at birth and adulthood, educational level and region of residence, and also with inter-generational social, educational and regional mobility/migration. The study used 5702 adults (2894 males and 2718 females) from the longitudinal British National Child Development Study (all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during the first week in March 1958 with follow-up throughout childhood and adulthood, most recently at 55 years of age). In both sexes BMI and waist circumference tended to increase from social classes I+II to IV+V and higher social class was associated with higher mean FEV1 and PEF. Better-educated adults tended to have lower BMI and waist circumference, and higher mean FEV1 and PEF. Women from Wales had the highest mean BMI and waist circumference but the lowest mean PEF, while women in Scotland had the highest mean systolic blood pressure and the lowest mean FEV1. For men only, FEV1 and PEF showed regional variation and the lowest mean FEV1 was in Wales and the lowest PEF in Yorkshire & Humberside. Inter-generational social mobility was not found to be associated with any of the biomarkers, while educational mobility was related only to FEV1 and PEF. In both sexes, in unadjusted regression analysis regional migrant cohort members tended to have a lower mean BMI than sedentes. Regional male migrants also tended to have a lower waist circumference and a higher FEV1 and PEF than sedentes.

This study aimed to delineate temporal trends and differentials of completed fertility and their relationship with some characteristics of the marriage system in specific anthropological populations of northern Greece. The analysis was based on the life history of quinquennial and decennial birth cohorts of married women born in the 20th century who reproduced solely within the settlements studied. The variables studied were: children ever born, mean age of mother at first marriage, mean age of mother at first child (live birth), mean age of mother at last child and reproductive span. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the demographic characteristics of marriage and that there was an ongoing fertility transition in the 20th century in the populations studied. The mechanism of fertility decline was connected with the gradual reduction of the mean age of the mother at last child, the parallel decrease in the mean age at childbearing and a shortening of the reproductive span. Fertility levels at all times maintained a dynamic character imposed by local cultural, economic and social structures, which, in turn, were part of broader national and international structures, in all the populations studied. A strong trend of convergence of fertility levels was observed among the populations studied.

Most studies examining the association between female education and fertility have reported an inverse association. However, little is known about the consistency of the relationship, or what level of education triggers an inverse association. This study examined the consistency of the association between female education and fertility across the north–south demographic divide in Nigeria. Data on women aged 40–49 were taken from the 2003, 2008 and 2013 Nigerian DHS data sets. The results showed that female education remained significantly and consistently inversely related to fertility in both the north and south of Nigeria. Women with secondary or higher level of education reported a lower number of children ever born (CEB) than those with primary or no education in both the north and south (p<0.05). The findings suggest that female education has a more effective negative effect on fertility in the south, where the level of female schooling is higher, than in the north, with its limited level of female education. Primary-level female education appeared to be ineffective in reducing fertility in the study sample. Women with primary schooling reported a slightly higher CEB than those who did not have any formal education. Also, age at marriage and child mortality were found to be consistent and significant predictors of fertility in both the north and south (p<0.001). Women who married at relatively higher ages and those who had never lost a child reported a smaller CEB consistently in both the north and south (p<0.001). Therefore, to attain sustainable fertility decline throughout Nigeria, it is imperative that policies aimed at increasing the prevalence and quality of female education are pursued, and there must be a focus on social, physical, environmental and cultural factors influencing age at marriage and child mortality.

This study was based on data for a sample of 1756 Egyptian primary school children (863 boys and 893 girls) aged 5–11 years assessed for intelligence with Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM). The results showed that boys obtained a slightly higher IQ than girls and had greater variance.