Infant malnutrition predicts conduct problems in adolescents.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence of conduct problems in a well-documented sample of Barbadian adolescents malnourished as infants and a demographic comparison group and to determine the extent to which cognitive impairment and environmental factors account for this association.

Methods: Behavioral symptoms were assessed using a 76-item self-report scale in 56 Barbadian youth (11-17 years of age) with histories of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) limited to the first year of life and 60 healthy classmates. Group comparisons were carried out by longitudinal and cross-sectional multiple regression analyses at 3 time points in childhood and adolescence.

Infant malnutrition is associated with persisting attention deficits in middle adulthood.

Infantile malnutrition is known to be associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment during childhood and adolescence. Data pertaining to longer-term effects on behavioral outcomes in adulthood are limited. In this study, we report associations between infantile malnutrition and attention problems in adults at midlife.

Early malnutrition predicts parent reports of externalizing behaviors at ages 9-17.

Objective: To determine whether externalizing behaviors are more prevalent in youth who have experienced an episode of malnutrition in the first year of life than in healthy comparison youth.

Method: Parents of previously malnourished youth and a matched healthy comparison group completed a behavior rating scale when the youth were 9-15 years of age and again, 2 years later, when they were 11-17 years of age. Longitudinal multiple regression analysis was applied to evaluate group differences adjusted for baseline age, sex, household standard of living, and maternal depressive symptoms.