Educational Level and Self-Reported Breastfeeding Duration among Primiparas in the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) 2011 -2013 Open Access

Wu, Melody (2016)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/sn009z08n?locale=en
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding is vital for providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development; however, there are several socio-economic and health determinants that predict whether or not mothers are able to initiate and maintain it for the recommended duration. With changing demographics among first time mothers, we examined the current association between maternal education and self-reported breastfeeding duration in the U.S.

METHODS: Utilizing national and population-based cross-sectional data from the 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), we examined the association between maternal education and self-reported breastfeeding duration among primiparas aged 15-44 years. Breastfeeding duration was examined as an ordinal variable. We estimated adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using a multivariable ordinal logistic regression, while controlling for several potential confounders.

RESULTS: Of the 2069 participants who were eligible for our analysis, 66.2% of first time mothers breastfed. 27.1% of them breastfed for less than a week to 8 weeks, 46.01% breastfed for 9 to 52 weeks and 15.12% breastfed for more than one-year-old and were still breastfeeding at the time of interview. Maternal education was an independent risk factor for the duration of breastfeeding among primiparas in our study sample), after controlling for age, race and ethnicity, marital status, religious beliefs, employment status and federal poverty level. Women with a college education and above were less likely to not breastfeed and to have shorter breastfeeding duration times. (aOR=0.59 CI= 0.47, 0.74) compared to women with lower education. In addition, women with less than high school education, even though it was not statistically significant, also were less likely to not breastfeed and to have shorter breastfeeding duration times (aOR=0.75 CI= 0.40, 1.35).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study points to an association between maternal education and breastfeeding duration after controlling for some important socio-demographic factors. Future studies should further explore how education, taken as a proxy for knowledge processing, is associated with breastfeeding, in a prospective analysis.

Table of Contents

Publication Cover Sheet…………………………………………………………………1

Abstract for Publication………………………………………………………………...2

Expanded Introduction.………………………………………………………………...3

Introduction for Publication …….…………………………………………………….8

Methods……………….……………………………………………………………….....13

Results………………...……………………………………………………………….....16

Expanded Discussion....…………………………………………………………….....18

Discussion…………....……………………………………………………………….….22

References…………....……………………………………………………………........26

Figure 1…...………….………………………………………………………….…........30

Table 1……………….…………………………………………………………….….......31

Table 1a…………….……………………………………………………………............32

Table 2……………….………………………………………………………….………...33

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