Effect of Children’s Stunted Growth on Adult’s Obesity inIndonesia: A Longitudinal Study

Indonesia has been facing serious nutritional problems for many decades. Undernutrition has not been resolved, but overnutrition problems occur in all stages of life.This study was conducted to determine the effect of children’s stunted growth on adult obesity in Indonesia.The research design was a longitudinal study using secondary data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 1 in 1993, IFLS 2 in 1997, IFLS 3 in 2000, IFLS 4 in 2007 and IFLS 4 in 2014. The population of this study was comprised of children who were observed until they became adults. Total eligible sample was 927 subjects.Our results showed the proportion of stunting in children aged 1–5 years to be 50.2% decreased at the age of 15–19 years old (25.1%). This contrasts with the proportion of obesity that increased when subjects were aged 5–9 years (1.6%) at the age 22–26 years old (14.4%). The analysis suggest that children’s stunted growth does not affect adult obesity. Father's obesity status, living in urban areas, and low consumption of fruits and vegetables can affect adult obesity.