1School of Studies in Physical Education, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur.
2School of Studies in Anthropology, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur.
3Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
The aim of the study is to compare the growth and nutritional status of adolescent boys of non-residential (Kendriya Vidyalaya) and residential (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) schools from Chhattisgarh, India. This cross sectional study was undertaken on 900 adolescent boys (450 residential and 450 non-residential), aged 10 to 18 years. Standard anthropometric measurements and dietary survey (weightment method) were taken to understand growth and nutritional status. Mean, standard deviation and percentile curves were used to examine the pattern of growth, while t-test and 50th percentile values were used to compare the data with other studies. Values of <5th percentile of body mass index (BMI) for age were considered as indicator of under-nutrition. Most of the body measurements showed high rates of increase between 11 to 12 years among non-residential boys and 13 to 15 years among residential boys, which corresponds to earlier adolescent growth spurt among non-residential compared to residential boys. Similarly, the prevalence of under-nutrition was higher among residential compared to non-residential boys, which may be due to the higher consumption (p<0.01) of calories, protein and fat among non-residential boys than their counterparts. Therefore, routine life style, regular diet and exercise did not help residential boys to be healthier compared to non-residential boys, who have better socio-economic condition. Moreover, adequate diet and parental caring may have played important factors among non-residential boys to be healthier.
