生育政策的地区差异与儿童营养过剩关系研究

近年来,中国的肥胖儿童不断增多。由于该现象发生在“独生子女”政策开始实施以后,后者被认为是前者之因。然而,实证研究的缺乏使生育政策与儿童营养过剩之间的关系尚不明确。使用“中国健康和营养调查”数据,探讨政策与儿童(0-12岁)营养过剩之间的关系。多层模型和纵向分析结果显示,其一,儿童营养过剩的比例在90年代持续攀升,但增长速度较慢。其二,虽然生活在一孩生育政策地区的儿童营养过剩的比例高于其它地区儿童,独生子女营养过剩的比例超过非独生子女,但在其它条件同等的情况下,生育政策的地区差异和姊妹结构与儿童营养过剩概率无显著关联。分析结果并不支持“独生子女政策造成了儿童肥胖”的公共观点。影响儿童营养过剩的主要因素包括父母的体重、母亲的教育、社区发展水平和省份。

Local Variations of Birth Planning Policy and Child Overweight in Transitional China

The prevalence of overweight among children in China has increased,and the one-child policy has been suggested as a cause. Drawing on data from the China Health and Nutri-tion Survey (1993-2000),this paper examines the relationship between the one -child policy and overweight among young children. Multilevel model results suggest that overweight among children age 0-12 increased in the 1990s at a slower pace than that documented in previous studies, and the prevalence of overweight varies by child age and urban residence. However,while there are substantially gross differences in overweight by policy variations and sibsize,sin-gle children and those in strict one-child policy communities do not differ from other children in the risk of overweight,after adjusting for household and community characteristics. Thus,the policy does not seem to bear a relationship to child overweight risk;little evidence has emerged from this analysis to support the public perception that the one -child policy is associated with the rising epidemic of child overweight in transitional China.