Volume 41 - Article 25 | Pages 713–752
Maternal educational attainment and infant mortality in the United States: Does the gradient vary by race/ethnicity and nativity?
By Tiffany Green, Tod Hamilton
References
Acevedo-Garcia, D., Soobader, M.J., and Berkman, L.F. (2007). Low birthweight among US Hispanic/Latino subgroups: The effect of maternal foreign-born status and education. Social Science and Medicine 65(12): 2503–2516.
Acevedo-Garcia, D., Soobader, M.J., and Berkman, L.F. (2005). The differential effect of foreign-born status on low birth weight by race/ethnicity and education. Pediatrics 115(1): e20–e30.
Ahmed, S., Creanga, A.A. , Gillespie, D.G., and Tsui, A.O. (2010). Economic status, education and empowerment: Implications for maternal health service utilization in developing countries. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11190.
Aizer, A. and Stroud, L. (2010). Education, knowledge and the evolution of disparities in health. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER Working Paper 15840).
Akresh, I.R. and Frank, R. (2008). Health selection among new immigrants. American Journal of Public Health 98(11): 2058–2064.
Almond, D., Doyle Jr., J.J., Kowalski, A.E., and Williams, H. (2010). Estimating marginal returns to medical care: Evidence from at-risk newborns. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 125(2): 591–634.
Auger, N., Luo, Z.-C., Platt, R.W., and Daniel, M. (2008). Do mother’s education and foreign born status interact to influence birth outcomes? Clarifying the epidemiological paradox and the healthy migrant effect. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62: 402–409.
Bhalotra, S. and Rawlings, S. (2013). Gradients of the intergenerational transmission of health in developing countries. Review of Economics and Statistics 95(2): 660–672.
Bratsberg, B. and Terrell, D. (2002). School quality and returns to education of US immigrants. Economic Inquiry 40(2): 177–198.
Braveman, P.A., Heck, K., Egerter, S., Marchi, K.S., Dominguez, T.P., Cubbin, C., Fingar, K., Pearson, J.A., and Curtis, M. (2015). The role of socioeconomic factors in black–white disparities in preterm birth. American Journal of Public Health 105(4): 694–702.
Buckles, K.S. and Price, J. (2013). Selection and the marriage premium for infant health. Demography 50(4): 1315–1339.
Byun, S.-y., Meece, J.L., and Irvin, M.J. (2012). Rural–nonrural disparities in postsecondary educational attainment revisited. American Educational Research Journal 49(3): 412–437.
Cammu, H., Martens, G., Van Maele, G., and Amy, J.-J. (2010). The higher the educational level of the first-time mother, the lower the fetal and post-neonatal but not the neonatal mortality in Belgium (Flanders). European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 148(1): 13–16.
Cavazos-Rehg, P.A., Krauss, M.J., Spitznagel, E.L., Bommarito, K., Madden, T., Olsen, M.A., Subramaniam, H., Peipert, J.F., and Bierut, L.J. (2015). Maternal age and risk of labor and delivery complications. Maternal and Child Health Journal 19(6): 1202–1211.
Chen, A., Oster, E., and Williams, H. (2016). Why is infant mortality higher in the United States than in Europe? American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 8(2): 89–124.
Chou, S.-Y., Liu, J.-T., Grossman, M., and Joyce, T. (2010). Parental education and child health: evidence from a natural experiment in Taiwan. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2(1): 33–61.
Colen, C.G., Geronimus, A.T., Bound, J., and James, S.A. (2006). Maternal upward socioeconomic mobility and black-white disparities in infant birthweight. American Journal of Public Health 96(11): 2032–2039.
Collins, J.W., David, R.J., Handler, A., Wall, S., and Andes, S. (2004). Very low birthweight in African American infants: The role of maternal exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination. American Journal of Public Health 94(12): 2132–2138.
Comolli, C.L. (2017). The fertility response to the Great Recession in Europe and the United States: Structural economic conditions and perceived economic uncertainty. Demographic Research 36(51): 1549–1600.
Currie, J. and Moretti, E. (2003). Mother’s education and the intergenerational transmission of human capital: Evidence from college openings. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118(4): 1495–1532.
Din-Dzietham, R. and Hertz-Picciotto, I. (1998). Infant mortality differences between whites and African Americans: the effect of maternal education. American Journal of Public Health 88(4): 651–656.
Dole, N., Savitz, D.A., Hertz-Picciotto, I., Siega-Riz, A.M., McMahon, M.J., and Buekens, P. (2003). Maternal stress and preterm birth. American Journal of Epidemiology 157: 14–24.
Dominguez, T.P., Dunkel-Schetter, C., Glynn, L.M., Hobel, C., and Sandman, C.A. (2008). Racial differences in birth outcomes: The role of general, pregnancy, and racism stress. Health Psychology 27(2): 194–203.
Dominguez, T.P., Ficklin Strong, E., Krieger, N., Gillman, M.W., and Rich-Edwards, J.W. (2009). Differences in the self-reported racism experiences of US-born and foreign-born Black pregnant women. Social Science and Medicine 69(2): 258–265.
Elo, I.T. and Culhane, J.F. (2010). Variations in health and health behaviors by nativity among pregnant Black women in Philadelphia. American Journal of Public Health 100(11): 2185–2192.
Elo, I.T., Vang, Z., and Culhane, J.F. (2014). Variation in birth outcomes by mother’s country of birth among non-Hispanic black women in the United States. Maternal and Child Health Journal 18(10): 2371–2381.
El-Sayed, A., Hadley, C., and Galea, S. (2008). Birth outcomes among Arab Americans in Michigan before and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Ethnicity and Disease 18(3): 348–356.
Everett, B.G., Rehkopf, D.H., and Rogers, R.G. (2013). The nonlinear relationship between education and mortality: An examination of cohort, race/ethnic, and gender differences. Population Research and Policy Review 32(6): 893–917.
Gage, T.B., Fang, F., O’Neill, E., and DiRienzo, G. (2013). Maternal education, birth weight, and infant mortality in the United States. Demography 50(2): 615–635.
Giuntella, O. (2017). Why does the health of Mexican immigrants deteriorate? Evidence from linked birth records. Journal of Health Economics 54: 1–16.
Goldman, N., Kimbro, R.T., Turra, C.M., and Pebley, A.R. (2006). Socioeconomic gradients in health for white and Mexican-origin populations. American Journal of Public Health 92(12): 2186–2193.
Goldstein, R.D., Trachtenberg, F.L., Sens, M.A., Harty, B.J., and Kinney, H.C. (2016). Overall postneonatal mortality and rates of SIDS. Pediatrics 137(1): 1–10.
Green, T. (2012). Black and immigrant: Exploring the effects of ethnicity and foreign-born status on infant health. Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy Institute.
Hamilton, T.G. (2014b). Do country-of-origin characteristics help explain variation in health among Black immigrants in the United States? Social Science Quarterly 95(3): 817–834.
Hamilton, T.G. (2014a). Selection, language heritage, and the earnings trajectories of Black immigrants in the United States. Demography 51(3): 975–1002.
Hamilton, T.G. and Hummer, R.A. (2011). Immigration and the health of US black adults: Does country of origin matter? Social Science and Medicine 73(10): 1551–1560.
Hayward, M.D., Hummer, R.A., and Sasson, I. (2015). Trends and group differences in the association between educational attainment and US adult mortality: Implications for understanding education’s causal influence. Social Science and Medicine 127: 8–18.
Hummer, R.A., Biegler, M., De Turk, P.B., Forbes, D., Parker Frisbie, W., Hong, Y., and Pullum, S.G. (1999). Race/ethnicity, nativity, and infant mortality in the United States. Social Forces 77(3): 1083–1117.
Hummer, R.A., Powers, D.A., Pullum, S.G., Gossman, G.L., and Frisbie, W.P. (2007). Paradox found (again): Infant mortality among the Mexican-origin population in the United States. Demography 44(3): 441–457.
Janevic, T., Savitz, D.A., and Janevic, M. (2011). Maternal education and adverse birth outcomes among immigrant women to the United States from Eastern Europe: A test of the healthy migrant hypothesis. Social Science and Medicine 73(3): 429–435.
Jann, B. (2013). Predictive margins and marginal effects in Stata. Paper presented at the 11th German Stata Users Group Meeting, Potsdam, Germany, June 7, 2013.
Jasso, G., Massey, D.S., Rosenzweig, M.R., and Smith, J.P. (2004). Immigrant health: Selectivity and acculturation. In: Anderson, N.B., Bulatao, R.A., and Cohen, B. (eds.). Critical perspectives on racial and ethnic differences in health in late life. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press: 227–266.
Kierans, W.J., Joseph, K.S., Luo, Z.-C., Platt, R., Wilkins, R., and Kramer, M.S. (2008). Does one size fit all? The case for ethnic-specific standards of fetal growth. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 8(1): 1–9.
Kimbro, R.T., Bzostek, S., Goldman, N., and Rodríguez, G. (2008). Race, ethnicity, and the education gradient in health. Health Affairs 27(2): 361–372.
Lahr, M.B., Rosenberg, K.D., and Lapidus, J.A. (2007). Maternal-infant bedsharing: Risk factors for bedsharing in a population-based survey of new mothers and implications for SIDS risk reduction. Maternal and Child Health Journal 11(3): 277–286.
Landale, N.S., Oropesa, R.S., and Gorman, B.K. (2000). Migration and infant death: Assimilation or selective migration among Puerto Ricans? American Sociological Review 65(6): 888–909.
Lauderdale, D.S. (2006). Birth outcomes for Arabic-named women in California before and after September 11. Demography 43(1): 185–201.
Li, J. and Hummer, R.A. (2015). The relationship between duration of US residence, educational attainment, and adult health among Asian immigrants. Population Research and Policy Review 34(1): 49–76.
Li, Q. and Keith, L.G. (2011). The differential association between education and infant mortality by nativity status of Chinese American mothers: A life-course perspective. American Journal of Public Health 101(5): 899–908.
Lindeboom, M., Llena-Nozal, A., and van der Klaauw, B. (2009). Parental education and child health: Evidence from a schooling reform. Journal of Health Economics 28(1): 109–131.
Livingston, G. (2016). Births outside of marriage decline for immigrant women. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.
Livingston, G. and Cohn, D. (2012). US birth rate falls to a record low; decline is greatest among immigrants. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.
López, G. and Bialik, K. (2017). Key findings about US immigrants. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.
Lynch, J.L. and von Hippel, P.T. (2016). An education gradient in health, a health gradient in education, or a confounded gradient in both? Social Science and Medicine 154: 18–27.
MacDorman, M.F., Hoyert, D.L., and Mathews, T.J. (2013). Recent declines in infant mortality in the United States, 2005–2011. Atlanta: National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS Data Brief 120).
MacDorman, M.F. and Mathews, T.J. (2010). Behind international rankings of infant mortality: How the United States compares with Europe. International Journal of Health Services 40(4): 577–588.
MacDorman, M.F., Mathews, T.J., Mohangoo, A.D., and Zeitlin, J. (2014). International comparisons of infant mortality and related factors: United States and Europe, 2010. National Vital Statistics Reports 63(5): 1–6.
Makate, M. and Makate, C. (2016). The causal effect of increased primary schooling on child mortality in Malawi: Universal primary education as a natural experiment. Social Science and Medicine 168: 72–83.
Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Sutton, P.D., Ventura, S.J., Menacker, F., and Munson, M.L. (2005). Births: Final data for 2003. National Vital Statistics Reports 54(2): 1–116.
Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Ventura, S.J., Osterman, M.J.K., and Mathews, T.J. (2013). Births: Final data for 2011. National Vital Statistics Reports 62(1): 1–90.
Mathews, T.J. and MacDorman, M.F. (2007). Infant mortality statistics from the 2004 period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports 55(14): 1–32.
Mathews, T.J., MacDorman, M.F., and Thoma, M.E. (2015). Infant mortality statistics from the 2013 period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports 64(9): 1–30.
McCrary, J. and Royer, H. (2011). The effect of female education on fertility and infant health: Evidence from school entry policies using exact date of birth. American Economic Review 101(1): 158–195.
Montez, J.K. and Barnes, K. (2016). The benefits of educational attainment for US adult mortality: Are they contingent on the broader environment? Population Research and Policy Review 35(1): 73–100.
Montez, J.K. and Friedman, E.M. (2015). Educational attainment and adult health: Under what conditions is the association causal? Social Science and Medicine 127: 1–7.
Montez, J.K., Hayward, M.D., Brown, D.C., and Hummer, R.A. (2009). Why is the educational gradient of mortality steeper for men? Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 64(5): 625–634.
Montez, J.K., Hummer, R.A., Hayward, M.D., Woo, H., and Rogers, R.G. (2011). Trends in the educational gradient of US adult mortality from 1986 to 2006 by race, gender, and age group. Research on Aging 33(2): 145–171.
Olson, M.E., Diekema, D., Elliott, B.A., and Renier, C.M. (2010). Impact of income and income inequality on infant health outcomes in the United States. Pediatrics 126(6): 1165–1173.
Oreopoulos, P. (2011). Why do skilled immigrants struggle in the labor market? A field experiment with thirteen thousand resumes. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 3(4): 148–171.
Pager, D. and Shepherd, H. (2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. Annual Review of Sociology 34: 181–209.
Powers, D.A. (2016). Erosion of advantage: Decomposing differences in infant mortality rates among older non-Hispanic White and Mexican-origin mothers. Population Research and Policy Review 35(1): 23–48.
Price, J., Price, J., and Simon, K. (2011). Educational gaps in medical care and health behavior: Evidence from US natality data. Economics of Education Review 30(5): 838–849.
Prickett, K.C. and Augustine, J.M. (2016). Maternal education and investments in children’s health. Journal of Marriage and Family 78(1): 7–25.
Ray, J.G., Jiang, D., Sgro, M., Shah, R., Singh, G., and Mamdani, M.M. (2009). Thresholds for small for gestational age among newborns of East Asian and South Asian ancestry. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada 31(4): 322–330.
Riddell, C.A., Harper, S., and Kaufman, J.S. (2017). Trends in differences in US mortality rates between Black and White infants. JAMA Pediatrics 171(9): 911–913.
Sasson, I. (2016). Trends in life expectancy and lifespan variation by educational attainment: United States, 1990–2010. Demography 53(2): 269–293.
Shapiro-Mendoza, C.K., Camperlengo, L., Ludvigsen, R., Cottengim, C., Anderson, R.N., Andrew, T., Covington, T., Hauck, F.R., Kemp, J., and MacDorman, M.F. (2014). Classification system for the sudden unexpected infant death case registry and its application. Pediatrics 134(1): e210–e219.
Singh, G.K. and Kogan, M.D. (2007). Persistent socioeconomic disparities in infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates in the United States, 1969–2001. Pediatrics 119(4): e928–e939.
Teitler, J., Martinson, M., and Reichman, N.E. (2017). Does life in the United States take a toll on health? Duration of residence and birthweight among six decades of immigrants. International Migration Review 51(1): 37–66.
Teitler, J.O., Hutto, N., and Reichman, N.E. (2012). Birthweight of children of immigrants by maternal duration of residence in the United States. Social Science and Medicine 75(3): 459–468.
Williams, D.R. (2002). Racial/ethnic variations in women’s health: The social embeddedness of health. American Journal of Public Health 92(4): 588–597.
Williams, D.R. and Collins, C. (2001). Racial residential segregation: A fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Public Health Reports 116(5): 404–416.