Children of Immigrants Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance (1999) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 Immigration and Infant Health: Birth Outcomes of Immigrant and Native-Born Women
5 Immigration and Infant Health: Birth Outcomes of Immigrant and Native-Born Women
Pages 244-285
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 244... ...
As initially framed (Guendelman, 1988; Markides and Coreil, 1986; Williams et al., 1986) , the paradox was that rates of low birthweight and infant mortality are comparable for Mexican-origin and white infants, despite the much poorer socioeconomic profile of the former group.
|
From page 245... ...
and infant health is examined in a number of Latino and Asian groups, including Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans,~ Central/ South Americans, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, and other Asian/ Pacific Islanders. BACKGROUND Over the past several decades, both the number and the diversity of U.S.
|
From page 246... ...
, the implications of the sources of immigration for the socioeconomic status of the immigrant population must be considered. There are striking differences in the educational attainment and skill levels of immigrants from various origin countries at the time of their arrival in the United States.
|
From page 247... ...
Because immigrants occupy the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder more often than not, the assimilation framework implies that immigrants (and their children) will initially experience a health disadvantage, which will decline with duration of residence (for the foreign born)
|
From page 248... ...
The other explanatory factor emphasized in studies of racial/ ethnic disparities in health is medical care. However, in studies of Mexicans the findings for prenatal care parallel those for SES: rates of low birthweight and infant mortality are lower for the foreign born, despite the fact that they receive less adequate prenatal care.
|
From page 249... ...
How these various determinants of infant health operate for immigrant groups other than Mexican Americans is not well known. In the following sections we summarize our analyses of the effect of maternal nativity on low birthweight and infant mortality among non-Latino whites, non-Latino blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Central/South Americans, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, and other Asian/Pacific Islanders.
|
From page 250... ...
Rates of low birthweight for infants of nativeborn mothers could not be calculated for these groups because of an insufficient number of cases. Because the 1992-1994 NCHS Natality Files are restricted to birth certificate data, rates of infant mortality also cannot be calculated for these Asian groups.
|
From page 251... ...
251 o N ~u00~0d Yang o~0 Anon .. Mali, Yak ., y~o3 \~\ toys o~ o, , an>% got "oak o York Any ., ·Z , ~ au be ., au ., V)
|
From page 252... ...
Puerto Ricans and Filipinos also stand out for their higher-than-average rates of low birthweight. Additionally, despite the slight health advantage of infants of foreign-born mothers compared to infants of native-born mothers within most ethnic groups, offspring of foreign-born women have higher rates of low birthweight than offspring of native-born non-Latino white women in the majority of ethnic groups (i.e., non-Latino blacks, Puerto Ricans, Central/ South Americans, Filipinos, Japanese, and other Asian/Pacific Islanders)
|
From page 253... ...
by maternal nativity for each racial/ethnic group. For all groups except the Japanese the infant mortality rate is lower for children of immigrants than for children of the native born, although it is only slightly lower in some ethnic groups (e.g., Central/South Americans, Chinese)
|
From page 254... ...
254 OD Us o o N o~0 ~,0~ en..
|
From page 255... ...
There appear to be three major risk factors for low birthweight due to poor intrauterine growth: smoking during pregnancy, low maternal weight gain during pregnancy, and low prepregnancy weight (Kramer, 1987~. Other factors (e.g., maternal age, maternal education, parity, infant sex, prior low-birthweight birth)
|
From page 256... ...
The pattern for Central/South Americans, the Chinese, and other Asian/Pacific Islanders is consistent with that revealed here and elsewhere for Mexicans: the foreign born have lower levels of educational attainment than the native borne In contrast, among non-Latino whites, non-Latino blacks, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Filipinos, foreign-born mothers have more education than native-born mothers.9 Thus, in the latter groups the more favorable birth outcomes of the foreign born are not at odds with a socioeconomic model. Figure 5-3 presents information on the intervening variables.
|
From page 257... ...
257 Also a, ., o~ ~.,~ (D U
|
From page 258... ...
258 o o o 0 0 U. ~of Id N o O O N Yang as, ~0 Yaks OF Bay .
|
From page 261... ...
For all remaining groups the opposite pattern holds. However, Mexicans and Central/South Americans are the only groups in which the foreign born are substantially more likely to receive inadequate prenatal care than the native born (21.9 versus 13.3 percent for Mexicans; 15.6 versus 10.7 percent for Central/South Americans)
|
From page 262... ...
, single motherhood, firstbirth status, maternal smoking, low maternal weight gain, and inadequate prenatal care. Maternal education is generally related to birthweight in the expected negative direction, but education appears to have weaker and less consistent effects than the other predictors in the multivariate models.
|
From page 264... ...
. As was the case for low birthweight, single motherhood, smoking, low maternal weight gain during pregnancy, and inadequate prenatal care increase the risk of infant mortality.
|
From page 265... ...
265 cot · 1 cn cn cn ~ O ~ m ~ m ~ 5 .
|
From page 266... ...
With incomplete information on socioeconomic status, socioeconomic differences between native- and foreign-born women cannot be ruled out as an explanation of the nativity differentials remaining in our multivariate models. The Linked Birth/Infant Death Datasets, like many national datasets, include information on mothers' birthplaces but not information with which to ascertain the generational status of native-born mothers that is, we cannot distinguish the native born of foreign parentage from the native born of native parentage.
|
From page 267... ...
CONCLUSIONS Our study adds further support to a growing literature documenting superior reproductive health outcomes among immigrants compared to native-born women. In almost all of the ethnic groups we examined, the rates of low birthweight and infant mortality were lower for the offspring of immigrants than for the offspring of the native born.
|
From page 268... ...
However, the effect of education on birthweight and infant mortality is fairly weak and varies across ethnic groups, although it is generally in the expected direction. Prenatal care utilization also fails to provide an explanation of the health advantage of the infants of immigrants: in some groups, immigrants have better reproductive health outcomes despite less adequate prenatal care, while in others there is little difference in the use of prenatal care between immigrants and natives.
|
From page 269... ...
In Developing Public Health Social Work Programs to Prevent Low Birthweight and Infant Mortality: High Risk Populations and Outreach, C.J. Morton and R.G.
|
From page 270... ...
Rumbaut, R.G., and J.R. Weeks 1989 Infant health among Indochinese refugees: Patterns of infant mortality, birthweight, and prenatal care in comparative perspective.
|
From page 271... ...
American Journal of Public Health 76:387-391.
|
From page 272... ...
The only exception is Puerto Ricans, who are included and defined as foreign born if their mother was born in Puerto Rico. Because infant mortality is likely to be underestimated for births to nonresidents of the United States (who may return home after giving birth)
|
From page 273... ...
Died before first birthday Non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic black Mexican Puerto Rican Cuban Central/South American Chinese Japanese Filipino Other Asian/Pacific Islander Native born (reference) Foreign born (for Puerto Ricans, born in Puerto Rico)
|
From page 274... ...
<22 lb. aThe Kessner Index is based on information on the month that prenatal care began and the number of prenatal care visits (adjusting for length of gestation)
|
From page 276... ...
19.59 19.06 32.57 29.04 26.11 Prenatal Care Adequate 77.23 74.71 50.94 53.75 55.54 1 intermediate 18.22 19.23 32.82 33.51 31 .18 Inadequate 4.55 6.06 16.23 12.74 13.28 No. of cases 654,108 27,187 158,117 10,782 381,168
|
From page 278... ...
< 20 26.14 8.31 2.69.67 18.39 20-34 70.16 80.8 71.6880.79 74.84 35+ 3.70 10.88 25.6318.54 6.78 Education < High school 26.72 44.80 3.8516.04 15.05 High school 35.09 33.06 11.6729.55 42.64 Some college 38.19 22.14 84.4954.41 42.31 Single 40.10 41.01 9.543.26 32.04 Infant Characteristics Birth order 1 59.07 38.52 49.9452.61 48.16 2-4 39.17 56.60 48.8846.47 49.12 5+ 1.75 4.88 1.19.91 2.72 Male 50.21 51.16 51.1252.12 50.92 Health Behaviors Smoked 8.79 2.80 6.261.60 12.40 Drank 2.33 .84 3.061.11 2.02 Weight gain <22 lb. 21.20 26.17 20.1322.01 19.49 Prenatal Care Adequate 59.48 48.33 82.9272.49 63.39 1 intermediate 29.79 36.07 14.7022.65 28.34 Inadequate 10.73 15.60 2.394.86 8.27 No.
|
From page 280... ...
2.985 2.606 2.423 2.592 2.995 Prenatal care Adequate 1 Intermediate 1.330 1.151 1.137 1.044 1.089 Inadequate 1.830 1.690 1.530 1.617 1.914 No. of cases 681,295 168,899 999,458 137,625 30,826 NOTE: NB, native born; FB, foreign born.
|
From page 282... ...
2.813 2.699 2.086 2.690 4.607 Prenatal Care Adequate 1 intermediate 1 .345 1 .073 0.967 0.980 0.965 Inadequate 1.859 1.574 1.192 1.608 1.240 No. of cases 681,295 168,899 999,458 137,625 30,826
|
From page 284... ...
1.691 1.607 1.335 1.624 2.359 Prenatal Care Adequate 1 Intermediate 1.209 1.019 .928 1.011 .979 Inadequate 1.403 1.190 .990 1.298 .733 No. of cases 681,295 168,899 999,458 137,625 30,826
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.