Dennis Jeff A, Mollborn Stefanie
Department of Social Sciences, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, 4901 E. Universit, Blvd., Odessa, TX 79762.
Department of Sociology, Institute of Behavioral Science, Health and Society Program, University of Colorado Boulder, 1440 15th St, room 466, 483 UCB, Boulder, CO 80302.
Soc Sci J. 2013 Dec;50(4):625-634. doi: 10.1016/j.soscij.2013.09.008.
This study considers how low birth weight (LBW) prevalence varies by race/ethnicity and maternal age and explores mechanisms that explain disparities. Results show that maternal age patterns in LBW risk for African Americans differ from whites and foreign- and U.S.-born Hispanics. Background socioeconomic disadvantage, together with current socioeconomic status and smoking during pregnancy, explain almost all of the LBW disparity between white teenage mothers and their older counterparts. These findings suggest that social disadvantage is a primary driver in unfavorable birth outcomes among white teenage mothers compared to older white mothers. Alternatively, background disadvantage and other social characteristics explain very little of the LBW disparities among African Americans and U.S.- and foreign-born Hispanics. Overall, these results indicate LBW disparities by maternal age are a complex product of socioeconomic disadvantage and current social and behavioral factors, such that LBW risk does not operate uniformly by race/ethnicity or maternal age.
本研究考察了低出生体重（LBW）患病率如何因种族/族裔和母亲年龄而异，并探讨了解释差异的机制。结果表明，非裔美国人低出生体重风险的母亲年龄模式与白人以及外国出生和美国出生的西班牙裔不同。背景社会经济劣势，加上当前的社会经济状况和孕期吸烟，几乎解释了白人青少年母亲与其年长同龄人之间低出生体重差异的全部原因。这些发现表明，与年长的白人母亲相比，社会劣势是白人青少年母亲不良出生结局的主要驱动因素。相比之下，背景劣势和其他社会特征对非裔美国人以及美国出生和外国出生的西班牙裔之间低出生体重差异的解释很少。总体而言，这些结果表明，按母亲年龄划分的低出生体重差异是社会经济劣势以及当前社会和行为因素的复杂产物，因此低出生体重风险并非按种族/族裔或母亲年龄统一起作用。
