ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2021
Social support, nutrition and health among women in rural Bangladesh: complex tradeoffs in allocare, kin proximity and support network size.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inverse Association Between Betel Quid Use and Diabetes in Rural Bangladesh.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Reciprocal exchanges across multilayered networks show an emerging patron-client system led by salaried households.Evolutionary human sciences · 2026Article
- Nutritional and social support enhance cognitive function in acute cerebral infarction patients.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Life Course Timing of Mortality Exposure and Fertility Behavior.Population research and policy review · 2025Article
- Maternal self-efficacy during infancy: Investigating the roles of depression and social support among mothers in rural Pakistan.Infant mental health journal · 2025Article
- Sedentarization and maternal childcare networks: role of risk, gender and demography.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Dynamics of cooperative networks associated with gender among South Indian Tamils.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Betel quid use is associated with anemia among both men and women in Matlab, Bangladesh.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Religiosity is associated with greater size, kin density, and geographic dispersal of women's social networks in Bangladesh.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Who cares for women with children? Crossing the bridge between disciplines.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Children are important too: juvenile playgroups and maternal childcare in a foraging population, the Agta.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Childcare support and child social development in Japan: investigating the mediating role of parental psychological condition and parenting style.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Malnutrition among women of reproductive age is a significant public health concern in low- and middle-income countries. Of particular concern are undernutrition from underweight and iron deficiency, along with overweight and obesity, all of which have negative health consequences for mothers and children. Accumulating evidence suggests that risk for poor nutritional outcomes may be mitigated by social support, yet how social support is measured varies tremendously and its effects likely vary by age, kinship and reproductive status. We examine the effects of different measures of social support on weight and iron nutrition among 677 randomly sampled women from rural Bangladesh. While we find that total support network size mitigates risk for underweight, other results point to a potential tradeoff in the effects of kin proximity, with nearby adult children associated with both lower risk for underweight and obesity and higher risk for iron deficiency and anaemia. Social support from kin may then enhance energy balance but not diet quality. Results also suggest that a woman's network of caregivers might reflect their greater need for help, as those who received more help with childcare and housework had worse iron nutrition. Overall, although some findings support the hypothesis that social support can be protective, others emphasize that social relationships often have neutral or negative effects, illustrating the kinds of tradeoffs expected from an evolutionary perspective. The complexities of these effects deserve attention in future work, particularly within public health, where what is defined as 'social support' is often assumed to be positive. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health'.
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