Codes
This variable is not available for any of the currently selected samples.
Description
MAFEDGRAINWKD (V470Q) reports how many days, out of the past seven days, the child's mother gave her youngest surviving child any food made from grain, such as millet, sorghum, maize, rice, wheat, or other local grains. This variable describes a characteristic of the mother rather than the child.
Although the question wording asks about foods given to a specific child during the previous week, responses relate to the mother, all young children of the mother are coded the same way. If the mother reported she gave her youngest surviving child any food made from grain in the previous week, all of her young children in the data are coded as "yes" (codes "1" through "7"), including any children who have died or who live elsewhere.
A positive response in MAFEDGRAINWKD thus does not necessarily indicate whether a particular child of the mother ate any food made from grain during the previous week. IPUMS-DHS users should instead employ the variable FEDGRAINWKD (M37Q) to determine how many days the child ate any food made from grain during the previous week. See Comparability.
The related variable MAFEDGRAIN24H (V414E) indicates whether the child's mother gave her youngest surviving child any food made from grain during the previous 24 hours. MAFEDGRAIN24HX (V469Q) reports the number of times the child's mother gave her youngest surviving child any food made from grain during the previous 24 hours.
Comparability
In addition to universe differences, MAFEDGRAINWKD (V470Q) has significant variation in question wording and recoding. Most samples ask about the mother's youngest surviving child under age 2 or 3 living with her. Some samples ask about the mother's last-born child, and others ask about the mother's last-born child if he or she is still breastfeeding.
Comparability - Standard DHS
MAFEDGRAINWKD (V470Q) is included in Phase IV of the standard DHS questionnaire.
Researchers should remember that, although all phases of the standard DHS questionnaire ask about foods given to a specific child during the previous week, the data do not always reflect this. In MAFEDGRAINWKD, the responses are treated as a characteristic of the mother. This means that all reported young children of the mother are coded the same way. If the mother reported she gave her youngest surviving child any food made from grain in the previous week, all of her young children in the data are coded as "yes" (codes "1" through "7"), including any children who have died or who live elsewhere.
FEDGRAINWKD reports the results to the same question in the questionnaire, but it treats the responses as a characteristic of the child, reporting how many days the child ate any food made from grain during the previous week.
