Background and objectives: Biosocial studies offer valuable designs for studying the interface between biological and social factors affecting human well-being. Biosocial correlates of child mortality were examined in the present study in a village population of West Bengal, India.

Material and Methods: In this study, 59 general castes (GC), 58 other backward castes (OBC), 150 scheduled castes (SC) and 55 scheduled tribes (ST) mothers were studied. These mothers have completed fertility. Child mortality was calculated following the method of Khan (1987) and Garma (1983). Whereas, child nutrition was assessed using the Gomez’s and Indian Academy of Pediatrics classification (Gomez et al. 1956; ICMR 1972, 1984). The path analysis is performed, using multiple regression equations, to find out the causal model to depict the relationships among different biosocial correlates and child deaths.

Results: Index of child mortality is highest (86.33) in the ST and lowest in the GC (60.15), whereas the OBC (75.34) and SC (83.55) show an intermediate position. A considerable overlap exists in the ranges of consumption of every food item in four cultural groups. Variables like antenatal care, treatment of child and mother’s sense of personal hygiene in the GC; household income, maternal nutrition and mother’s sense of personal hygiene in the OBC; antenatal care, treatment of child and mother’s sense of personal hygiene in the SC and household income, maternal nutrition and mother’s sense of personal hygiene in the ST show some impact with child deaths.

Conclusion: General castes enjoy better nutrition and health care facilities and they are more health conscious than other backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. As a result, level of child deaths is found to be lowest in this group. The other backward castes show a similar trend with general castes in this respect. Whereas, among the scheduled castes, a reverse trend is perceptible and they show a similarity with the scheduled tribes in respect of health and nutrition. It is interesting to
mention that both the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes occupy the lower segment in society in Sahajapur village.