Ethnic Violence and Birth Outcomes

Evidence From Exposure to the 1992 Conflict in Kenya

Bibliographic Data

ID10969418
AuthorsFredah Guantai (University of Tsukuba), Yoko Kijima (0000-0003-1568-1358, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), 7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume57
Issue2
Pages423-444
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0070-3370 • E-ISSN: 1533-7790
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1007/s13524-020-00864-w
PMID32215837
OpenAlexW2999436289
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited37

This study is an examination of the effect of intrauterine exposure to electoral violence on child birth weight, an outcome that has long-term effects on an individual’s education, income, and health in later life. We consider the electoral violence that resulted from the introduction of multiparty democracy in Kenya as an exogenous source of shock, using a difference-in-differences method and a mother fixed-effects model. We find that prenatal exposure to the violence increased the probabilities of low birth weight and a child being of very small size at birth by 19 and 6 percentage points, respectively. Violence exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy decreased birth weight by 271 grams and increased the probabilities of low birth weight and very small size at birth by 18 and 4 percentage points, respectively. The results reaffirm the significance of the nine months in utero as one of the most critical periods in life that shapes future health, economic, and educational trajectories

Biology · Birth weight · Fetus · In utero · Low birth weight · Obstetrics · Pregnancy · Sociology · Agricultural risk and resilience · Birth, Development, and Health · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Medicine