Malnutrition at Age 3 Years and Externalizing Behavior Problems at Ages 8, 11, and 17 Years

Participants were drawn from a birth cohort of 1,795 children from the island of Mauritius, which lies off the coast of Africa. On the basis of vaccination records, all children born in 1969 and 1970 in two main towns on the island were recruited into the study between September 1972 and August 1973 when they were 3 years old. The two towns (Vacoas and Quatre Bornes) were chosen because they were representative of the ethnic distribution of the whole island. The sample consisted of both boys (51.4%) and girls (48.6%). The ethnic distribution was as follows: Indian, 68.7%; Creole (African origin), 25.7%; and other (Chinese, English, and French), 5.6%. Census data for the island as a whole indicated 66% Indian, 29% Creole, and 5% other, indicating that the study largely achieved its goal of representing the ethnicity of the population. In keeping with previous work on this population (14, 22), the data analyses were restricted to Indians and Creoles because of the small number of subjects in the “other” ethnic category. Oral informed consent was obtained from the mothers of the participants in the early phases and from the participants themselves in the age 17 phase. Early research activities were conducted according to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (23), which prevailed in 1972, when the research was initiated, while research activities in later years were conducted according to principles outlined in the Belmont Report (24). Institutional review board approval for the later research phases and retrospective data analyses was obtained from the University of Southern California and from the University of California, Los Angeles.

At age 3 years, four early signs of malnutrition (19) were assessed in a clinical examination of 1,559 of the children. Assessments of the children were conducted with a structured protocol by local pediatricians who had received their medical training in Europe. All assessments were conducted at the research unit. The four signs were as follows:

The age 3 index of psychosocial adversity (14, 22) was based on nine psychosocial variables assessed by social workers who visited the homes of the children at age 3 years (see reference 34 for full details). The index was created along lines similar to those described by Rutter (35) and Moffitt (36). A total adversity score was created by adding one point for each of the following nine variables: father uneducated, mother uneducated, semiskilled or unskilled parental occupation, single parent status, separation from parents, large family size, poor health of mother, teenage mother, and overcrowded home. Complete data for this construct were available for 1,795 participants.

The age 11 psychosocial adversity index (14, 19, 22) was based on 14 variables assessed by social workers who visited the homes of the children at age 11 years. A total adversity score was created by adding one point for each of the following 14 variables: living in rented accommodation, house without electricity or water, child with neither good toys nor good books, no television, poor housing, father uneducated, mother uneducated, parent psychiatrically ill, parent physically ill, teenage mother (age 19 or younger when child was born), single parent status, separation from both parents, five or more siblings, and overcrowded home (five or more family members per room). Complete data were available on 1,272.

Complete data on both the malnutrition and externalizing behavior variables were available on 982 subjects at age 8, 1,044 at age 11, and 541 at age 17. Those with and without complete data at each age were compared on gender and ethnicity, variables that were available on all subjects at age 3. Results of these analyses are shown in Table 1. There was a statistically significant overrepresentation of Indians at all ages among the participants with complete data and an overrepresentation of boys at age 11. Consequently, ethnicity and gender were entered into the subsequent analyses in order to assess their roles as moderator effects or confounds.

In the comparisons of the malnourished and normal groups, separate analyses were conducted for each of the three ages (8, 11, and 17 years). To test for overall effects of malnutrition on externalizing behavior problems, we conducted a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on all dependent variables for each age (e.g., hyperactivity, aggression, and delinquency at age 11). Univariate F tests were then used to assess which specific subcomponents of externalizing behavior were associated with malnutrition. IQ and social adversity at ages 3 and 11 were identified as potential mediators, i.e., variables accounting for a significant portion of the relationship between the predictor (malnutrition) and the outcome variable (externalizing behavior) (21). To test for the mediating effects of cognition and psychosocial adversity, these variables were each entered separately as covariates in the MANOVAs. Gender and ethnicity were identified as potential moderators, i.e., factors that may reduce or enhance the influence of malnutrition on externalizing behavior, as indicated by an interaction between the independent variable (malnutrition) and a factor (gender, ethnicity) (21). To assess for moderating effects of gender and ethnicity, we entered these variables as factors in the MANOVA alongside the nutrition grouping. Any interactions were broken down by stratifying on the moderator variable and conducting two-way MANOVAs to test for simple interactions (41). These in turn were broken down by tests of simple main effects. To test for a dose-response relationship between degree of malnutrition and degree of externalizing behavior problems, we constructed four levels of the grouping factor (none, one, two, and three malnutrition indicators), repeated the preceding MANOVAs and univariate ANOVAs, and conducted tests for linear trends to assess for a linear fit between degree of malnutrition and degree of externalizing behavior. Two-tailed tests of significance with an alpha set at 0.05 were used throughout.

Dose-response relationships between malnutrition and externalizing behavior are depicted in Figure 2. MANOVAs indicated a significant main effect of the degree of malnutrition on externalizing behavior at age 8 (F=2.53, df=6, 1954, p=0.02), and the linear term was also significant for both aggression (F=5.92, df=1, 977, p<0.02) and hyperactivity (F=11.96, df=1, 977, p<0.001). At age 17, there was also a main effect of the degree of malnutrition (F=2.44, df=12, 1608, p<0.004) and significant linear trends for conduct disorder (F=10.14, df=1, 537, p<0.002) and motor excess (F=8.58, df=1, 537, p<0.004). For age 11, the main effect of nutrition was nonsignificant (F=1.84, df=9, 3114, p=0.06), although the linear term was significant for hyperactivity (F=9.19, df=1, 1038, p<0.002). Univariate F tests showed significant group differences for age 8 hyperactivity (F=4.60, df=3, 977, p<0.003), age 11 hyperactivity (F=4.36, df=3, 1038, p<0.005), age 17 conduct disorder (F=3.53, df=3, 537, p<0.02), and age 17 motor excess (F=2.95, df=3, 537, p<0.04). The results of all other univariate tests (i.e., on aggression at age 8, aggression and delinquency at age 11, and attention problems and socialized aggression at age 17) were nonsignificant (p>0.11).

In order to assess whether poor cognition mediated the preceding dose-response relationships, the tests were repeated after we entered the cognitive measures as covariates. All effects of nutrition were abolished (age 8: F=1.14, df=6, 1488, p=0.34; age 17: F=1.69, df=12, 1401, p=0.07), indicating a mediating role of poor neurocognitive functioning.

One key finding of this study is that malnutrition at age 3 years is associated with higher scores for externalizing behavior problems at ages 8, 11, and 17. A second key finding is that the relationship between malnutrition and externalizing behavior was not found to be an artifact of psychosocial adversity but was instead mediated by cognitive ability, indicating that malnutrition predisposes children to a lower IQ, which in turn predisposes them to externalizing behavior problems. These conclusions are supported by the finding of dose-response relationships between degree of malnutrition and degree of externalizing behavior problems at ages 8 and 17, relationships that were again found to be mediated by low IQ. To our knowledge, these are the first findings to show prospectively that malnutrition assessed in the early postnatal years is associated with externalizing behavior problems from childhood to late adolescence and also to show the mediating effects of cognitive ability. These findings in turn have potential implications for public health attempts to prevent the occurrence of externalizing behavior problems in children and adolescents.

The robustness of the findings is indicated in several ways. First, malnutrition predisposed to externalizing behavior problems across several ages from childhood (age 8) to late adolescence (age 17). Second, externalizing behavior problems were measured by three different instruments at the three different ages, indicating that the findings were replicated across sources and were largely invariant to the nature of measurement (42). Third, the fact that gender and ethnicity did not moderate the multivariate findings at ages 11 and 17 indicates that the nutrition-externalizing relationship is not specific to one gender or ethnic grouping, although it should be noted that at age 8 malnutrition was more likely to predispose to aggression in Creoles and to hyperactivity in Indians. It is possible that malnutrition predisposes to a general disinhibitory tendency and that broad cultural differences influence the precise manifestations of such disinhibition at a behavioral level. Fourth, the fact that dose-response relationships were found at ages 8 and 17 confirms and extends the findings based on comparisons of the malnourished and nonmalnourished children, although it is noted that the dose-response effect at age 11 was not statistically significant (p=0.06). For these reasons, we believe that the findings cannot be easily attributed to chance and that, instead, they reflect a reliable relationship between early malnutrition and later externalizing behavior problems.

A critical question concerns the mechanism by which malnutrition predisposes to later externalizing behavior problems. We hypothesize that early malnutrition negatively affects brain growth and development and that brain impairments predispose to antisocial and violent behavior by affecting cognitive functions. The indicators of malnutrition in this study reflect deficits in protein (red hair, sparse/thin hair), iron (low hemoglobin level), and zinc (red hair, sparse/thin hair). There is extensive experimental evidence in animals both that zinc and protein deficiency impairs brain development (8, 43–45) and that protein, iron, and zinc deficiency predisposes to aggression (45–47). In humans, zinc deficiency during pregnancy has been linked to impaired DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis during brain development as well congenital brain abnormalities (48). There is also evidence in humans that antisocial behavior is related to protein deficiency (9) and iron-deficient anemia (7). Consequently, protein, iron, and zinc deficiencies may contribute to the brain impairments that have been found in aggressive adult offenders and that in turn are thought to predispose to aggressive antisocial behavior (3, 15, 46, 49).

While early malnutrition could thus relatively directly predispose to externalizing behavior problems by impairing brain mechanisms such as those in the prefrontal cortex that are thought to regulate emotion and inhibit impulsive aggressive behavior (for example, see reference 50), malnutrition could also predispose to externalizing behavior problems more indirectly by impairing cognitive functioning, which in turn predisposes to externalizing behavior problems. The findings from the present study provide partial (but not total) support for this possibility. Cognitive functioning was established as a mediator for the malnutrition-externalizing relationship at ages 8 and 11 years in that controlling for the effect of IQ on externalizing behavior abolished the malnutrition-externalizing relationship. Poor cognitive ability has been found consistently to predispose to externalizing behavior problems (51). Nevertheless, support for this cognitive explanation of the malnutrition-externalizing relationship is not entirely complete. While mediating effects were observed at ages 8 and 11 and while poor cognition mediated the dose-response relationship at age 17, it did not mediate overall differences between the malnourished and comparison groups in age 17 externalizing behavior, possibly because of the 6-year gap between the assessments of IQ (age 11) and externalizing behavior (age 17).

Externalizing behavior problems are important predisposing factors in later adult violent offenses (52), and violence prevention and protection from victimization have become two of the most pressing issues facing society today (52, 53). One recent double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized experimental trial showed that supplementation of adult prisoners’ diet with vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids significantly reduced antisocial and violent behavior in prison (54). Although dietary interventions for adults may prove helpful in reducing antisocial and violent behavior, identification of early risk factors for childhood and adolescent aggression is a critically important first step for developing successful prevention programs for such adult violence. Because nutrition is a malleable factor, it may be more practical and easier to prevent externalizing behavior through better early nutrition targeting at-risk populations than more complex and expensive psychosocial manipulations. The fact that several studies that have included the promotion of early nutrition as part of a larger prevention program have met with success (55, 56) argues for further attention to early malnutrition as a predisposing factor in externalizing behavior among children. It is possible, however, that malnutrition at age 3 years is correlated with poor prenatal malnutrition and that prenatal, rather than postnatal, interventions for malnutrition may be most effective (9, 55).

Finally, three potential limitations of the study should be acknowledged. First, the findings suggest but do not prove that early malnutrition predisposes to later externalizing behavior. Randomized, controlled designs that manipulate nutritional intake and evaluate diet in children are needed to support the role of nutrition as an etiological factor in externalizing behavior. Nevertheless, the fact that interventions that indirectly manipulate nutrition have been found to reduce later conduct disorder (55, 56) suggests that a possible etiological role of malnutrition in externalizing behavior should not be discounted. Second, because nutrition was assessed at only one time point (age 3 years) this study could not ascertain whether the effects on externalizing behavior were produced by transient malnutrition (i.e., the first 3 years only), by more sustained malnutrition, extending beyond the third year, or by maternal malnutrition during pregnancy (9). Third, there are cultural, ethnic, and social differences between Mauritius and the United States that highlight the importance of replicating the present findings in Europe and the United States. Nevertheless, the current findings from Mauritius may be a good model for externalizing problems in underserved subpopulations of American society, particularly since food insufficiency is relatively common in poor rural areas of the United States and has been associated with poor behavioral functioning in low-income children in American inner cities (57, 58).