Assessing the Role of Parental Power Distribution on Child Health in Nigeria

Abstract

As the most populous country of Sub-Sharan Africa, Nigeria represents nearly a third of the total of under-five year old deaths due to malnutrition in the region (UN IGME, 2019). Much research has focused on the role of mothers and household socioeconomic status, with far less inclusion of paternal characteristics in explaining child health outcomes. This study examines the relative impacts of socioeconomic status, maternal and paternal resources, and maternal autonomy on child health outcomes (stunting, wasting and underweight) in Nigeria, by assessing the Absolute Resource Theory, Relative Resource Theory, and Gender Theory. The findings indicate that household access to socioeconomic resources, not individual resources or maternal autonomy, predicts child health in Nigeria. As such, these results suggest that greater attention should be paid to eliminating poverty, conflict and inequality, rather than focusing on solutions that target individual mothers or fathers.