Race/Ethnicity, Maternal Educational Attainment, and Infant Mortality in the United States

Citation

Fishman, Samuel H.; Hummer, Robert A.; Sierra, Gracia; Hargrove, Taylor W.; Powers, Daniel A.; & Rogers, Richard G. (2020). Race/Ethnicity, Maternal Educational Attainment, and Infant Mortality in the United States. Biodemography and Social Biology, 66(1), 1-26. PMCID: PMC7951143

Abstract

This study examines patterns of and explanations for racial/ethnic-education disparities in infant mortality in the United States. Using linked birth and death data (2007-2010), we find that while education-specific infant mortality rates are similar for Mexican Americans and Whites, infants of college-educated African American women experience 3.1 more deaths per 1,000 live births (Rate Ratio = 1.46) than infants of White women with a high school degree or less. The high mortality rates among infants born to African American women of all educational attainment levels are fully accounted for by shorter gestational lengths. Supplementary analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health show that college-educated African American women exhibit similar socioeconomic, contextual, psychosocial, and health disadvantages as White women with a high school degree or less. Together, these results demonstrate African American-White infant mortality and socioeconomic, health, and contextual disparities within education levels, suggesting the role of life course socioeconomic disadvantage and stress processes in the poorer infant health outcomes of African Americans relative to Whites.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19485565.2020.1793659

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2020

Journal Title

Biodemography and Social Biology

Author(s)

Fishman, Samuel H.
Hummer, Robert A.
Sierra, Gracia
Hargrove, Taylor W.
Powers, Daniel A.
Rogers, Richard G.

Article Type

Regular

PMCID

PMC7951143

Data Set/Study

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

Continent/Country

United States of America

State

Nonspecific

Race/Ethnicity

African-American
Mexican American
White

Sex/Gender

Women

ORCiD

Hummer - 0000-0003-3058-6383
Hargrove - 0000-0002-8759-1944
Fishman - 0000-0001-5821-8879