Maternal Age and Infant Mortality for White, Black, and Mexican Mothers in the United States
Maternal Age and Infant Mortality for White, Black, and Mexican Mothers in the United States
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Date
2016
Authors
Cohen, Philip N.
Advisor
Citation
Philip N. Cohen. 2016. “Maternal Age and Infant Mortal- ity for White, Black, and Mexican Mothers in the United States”. Sociological Science 3: 32-38.
DRUM DOI
Abstract
This paper assesses the pattern of infant mortality by maternal age for white, black, and
Mexican mothers using the 2013 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Public Use File from the Centers
for Disease Control. The results are consistent with the “weathering” hypothesis, which suggests
that white women benefit from delayed childbearing while for black women early childbearing is
adaptive because of deteriorating health status through the childbearing years. For white women,
the risk (adjusted for covariates) of infant death is U-shaped—lowest in the early thirties—while
for black women the risk increases linearly with age. Mexican-origin women show a J-shape, with
highest risk at the oldest ages. The results underscore the need for understanding the relationship
between maternal age and infant mortality in the context of unequal health experiences across
race/ethnic groups in the US.
Notes
Funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.