Eckhardt K W, Hendershot G E
Public Health Rep. 1984 Jul-Aug;99(4):410-5.
The long downward trend in the practice of breast feeding was reversed during the 1972-73 period. Data from the National Survey of Family Growth conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics were used to investigate the social correlates of breast feeding during the periods 1970-72 and 1973-75 to determine if these factors were related to the reversal in the breast feeding trend. A multivariate log linear modeling technique was used to test hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect effects of education, race, employment status, and source of prenatal care. While education, race, and employment status were directly related to the breast feeding decision, the analysis showed that the trend in breast feeding was unrelated to these correlates. Two alternate conclusions may be drawn from these findings: first, it is possible that changes in infant feeding practices occur earlier in some groups than in others, but the characteristics that distinguish such groups are not included in conventional social demographic data. Alternately, it is possible that the practice of breast feeding appeals equally to all social groups, and changes in the practice occur in response to broad social forces which affect society as a whole.
母乳喂养率长期下降的趋势在1972 - 1973年期间出现了逆转。美国国家卫生统计中心开展的全国家庭成长调查数据被用于研究1970 - 1972年和1973 - 1975年期间母乳喂养的社会关联因素，以确定这些因素是否与母乳喂养趋势的逆转有关。多元对数线性建模技术被用于检验有关教育程度、种族、就业状况和产前护理来源的直接和间接影响的假设。虽然教育程度、种族和就业状况与母乳喂养决策直接相关，但分析表明母乳喂养趋势与这些关联因素无关。从这些发现中可以得出两个不同的结论：第一，婴儿喂养方式的变化在某些群体中可能比在其他群体中出现得更早，但区分这些群体的特征并未包含在传统的社会人口数据中。或者，母乳喂养行为可能对所有社会群体具有同等吸引力，并且这种行为的变化是对影响整个社会的广泛社会力量做出的反应。
