This dissertation research project will allow a graduate student in cultural anthropology to study the effects of constraints on budgets and mother's time on small children's health in Java, Indonesia. Ethnographic as well as survey research methods, including anthropometric measurements and diet surveys will be used to study children's growth and the culturally-defined issues considered by mothers in deciding how to budget their resources to provide for their small children. %%% This research is important because children all over the world are at risk of growth impairment due to the poverty of their rural households. Understanding how their health is influenced by the cultural beliefs and socio-economic situations of their mothers can help planners target the benefits of development resources.
