The impact of acculturation level and marital status on infant health and maternal education among California resident Hispanics

Abstract

Data for Hispanic participants in the 1985 - 1988 California Adolescent Family Life (AFL) Program were examined to determine whether acculturation level and marital status have an effect on maternal educational outcomes and infant health outcomes. Following Becerra and de Anda (1984) language preference is used as an approximation of acculturation level. With respect to marital status, two models are constructed. In Model 1, marital status includes the values never married or ever married. In Model 2, married and cohabiting women are grouped together and compared with women who neither have married nor cohabited. Logistic regression was used to determine the effect of these independent variables on the dichotomized maternal education and infant health variables. The infant health measures examined in this study are birthweight (low or adequate birthweight) and neonatal intensive care unit admission. More acculturated women were found to be more likely to have babies admitted to the NICU than less acculturated women. More acculturated women were also more likely than less acculturated women to be enrolled or graduated from school at the time they exited the AFL Program. Bivariate analyses for marriage with both birthweight and NICU admission approached significance. The logistic regression analyses for these relationships were not significant.