Malnutrition chronique des enfants de moins de cinq ans : Une étude du comportement alimentaire à risque des jeunes mères de l’arrondissement de Yaoundé 2.

Abstract

This thesis entitled "risky eating behaviors and chronic malnutrition of children under five: the case of young mothers" is part of the problematic of maternal and child health problems in Cameroon. Despite the fact that in the Center region and more particularly in the city of Yaoundé, food is abundant in quantity and quality in order to ensure a good diet for people. We see a very high rate of chronic malnutrition in children under five. This chronic malnutrition is responsible for the death of more than one in two children, directly and indirectly according to SMART Cameroon (INS, 2018). Based on this observation, the study examines the eating behavior of young mothers, which may have an impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five years old. The resulting research question is: Does the eating behavior implemented by the young mother impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five? According to the theory of planned behavior of Azjen (1991), the behavior implemented can be explained by attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control. The operationalization of our independent variable, which is eating behavior, allows us to obtain three specific hypotheses: H.S.1 The dietary attitudes implemented by young mothers have an impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five. H.S.2 The subjective dietary standards implemented by the young mother have an impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five years old. H.S.3 The behavioral dietary control implemented by the young mother has an impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five years old. The standardized questionnaire was chosen as a data collection tool and administered to a sample of 300 young mothers from the Yaoundé 2 district selected using the non-probability sampling technique. The chi-square (X2) statistical test yielded results which indicate that HS1 is accepted because the chi-square has a value of (65.053) and the p-value is (0.000).HS2 is rejected because the chi-square has a value of (6.897) and the p-value is (0.075); and HS3 is accepted because the chi-square has a value of (34.429) and the p-value is (0.000). In other words, the attitudes and behavioral control of food implemented by the young mother have an impact on the chronic malnutrition observed in children under five, contrary to the subjective norms which do not have an impact.