The name is absent

suggest that the extent to which the mother planned the timing of her birth is relevant to
the interpretation of the associations shown in the previous tables, and can be inferred
from answers to questions about whether or not the cohort birth was a surprise. 42% of
mothers having a first child in the survey said their pregnancy was a surprise. This
proportion is greatest for the youngest, 87% (under 19) and 76% (19-21), though there
were still 23% of the oldest group who were surprised. The impression that women
having births early are less likely to be planners is supported by looking at the whole
sample and relating the surprise status of the cohort baby to age at first birth. Table 5
also show that early mothers were less likely to breastfeed (fewer than half those having
their first child at or under 18 did so, compared to 89% of those aged 31 or more - with a
gradual increase over intermediate ages). We also report a positive gradient in the
birthweight of first babies as the age of mother increases, at least up to the late twenties.
The 75 gram gap between the weight of first children born to the women who entered
motherhood under 18 and those who were 29-30 represents 1.3 standard deviations of this
birthweight variable. This suggests there is still evidence (and analysis) to build up about
the consequences for children of the timing of motherhood - a complex story of
interrelationships between the social and economic resources of parents, parenting, child
development, social exclusion and prejudice of which this paper is only offering one
building block.

11

<<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   >>

More intriguing information