{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T08:30:15Z","timestamp":1786350615123,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784505600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":200,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Public Health Nutr."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Objective:<\/jats:title>\n This study aims to investigate the impact of women\u2019s empowerment on child undernutrition from 2006 to 2021 in India at the state, primary sampling unit and household levels.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Design:<\/jats:title>\n This study uses repeated cross-sectional data from three rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Child undernutrition is assessed using stunting, wasting and underweight indicators, with women\u2019s empowerment as a key predictor. Kernel density and linear polynomial plots depict the progression of anthropometric indicators over time, while multilevel regression identifies correlates and clustering in the undernutrition outcome.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Participants:<\/jats:title>\n Children under 5 years of age from all twenty-eight states and nine union territories of India living with their biological mothers, who are currently married or in union and not pregnant, were included in the study.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results:<\/jats:title>\n \n Findings indicate that NFHS-5 reports the lowest prevalence of stunting and underweight, while severe wasting persists across all survey rounds. Women\u2019s empowerment was not significant in NFHS-3, emerged as a significant determinant by NFHS-5 (NFHS-3\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n = \u20130\u00b708 (\u20130\u00b726, 0\u00b711); NFHS-5\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n = \u20130\u00b729** (\u20130\u00b751, \u20130\u00b707)). Among covariates, wealth quintile showed the strongest influence on child undernutrition from 2006 to 2021, with children from the richest households having the lowest risk of being underweight. Clustering remained higher at the household level in all survey rounds, reflected through the intra-class correlation.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n Higher women\u2019s empowerment is significantly associated with reduced child undernutrition, where higher clustering persists at the household level. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies promoting women\u2019s empowerment through community platforms and convergence with self-help groups to strengthen household-level health and nutrition outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1017\/s1368980026103164","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T09:39:45Z","timestamp":1784540385000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Structural determinants of child undernutrition: contribution of women\u2019s empowerment in India\u2019s nutritional transition"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4605-1634","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bharti","family":"Singh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0178xk096","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"International Institute for Population Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shri K.","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0178xk096","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"International Institute for Population Sciences"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deepanjali","family":"Vishwakarma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Limerick"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]]},"container-title":["Public Health Nutrition"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S1368980026103164","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T08:00:14Z","timestamp":1786348814000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S1368980026103164\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}},"alternative-id":["S1368980026103164"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s1368980026103164","relation":{},"ISSN":["1368-9800","1475-2727"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1368-9800","type":"print"},{"value":"1475-2727","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"assertion":[{"value":"\u00a9 The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society","name":"copyright","label":"Copyright","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.","name":"license","label":"License","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This content has been made available to all.","name":"free","label":"Free to read"}],"article-number":"e167"}}