TABLE 2.
Sample Characteristics by Presence of Disabling Infant Health Condition
| Variables | Disabling Infant Health Condition (n = 92) |
No Disabling Infant Health Condition (n = 2700) |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male child | 65 (60) | 52 (1401) | .01 |
| Multiple birth | 3 (3) | 2 (53) | .38 |
| Maternal characteristics a | |||
| Age, years (mean) | 24.91 | 25.12 | .98 |
| Race/Ethnicity | .08 | ||
| Non-Hispanic white | 32 (29) | 21 (563) | |
| Non-Hispanic black | 48 (44) | 51 (1368) | |
| Hispanic | 18 (17) | 26 (691) | |
| Other | 2 (2) | 3 (78) | |
| Foreign born | 10 (9) | 13 (363) | .32 |
| Education | .47 | ||
| < High School | 29 (27) | 33 (893) | |
| High school graduate | 37 (34) | 31 (838) | |
| Any college | 34 (31) | 36 (969) | |
| Relationship to child’s father | .32 | ||
| Married | 17 (16) | 24 (654) | |
| Cohabiting | 38 (35) | 36 (961) | |
| Neither married nor cohabiting | 45 (41) | 40 (1084) | |
| First birth | 35 (32) | 39 ( 1044) | .45 |
| Medicaid birth | 71 (65) | 63 ( 1703) | .14 |
| Good, fair or poor self-rated health (vs. excellent or very good) | 43 (40) | 34 (931) | .07 |
| Psychosocial factors | |||
| Mother did not live w/ both biological parents at age 16a | 59 (54) | 58 (1576) | .95 |
| Prenatal diagnosed mental illnessb | 10 (9) | 9 (248) | .85 |
| Illicit drug use during pregnancyc | 11 (10) | 8 (210) | .28 |
| Alcohol consumption during pregnancyc | 15 (14) | 13 (351) | .54 |
| Criminal justice system involvement (child’s mother or father)d | 15 (14) | 13 (341) | .46 |
| Domestic violence or sexual abusec | 8 (7) | 7 (201) | .95 |
Notes: Unless indicated otherwise, all figures are column percentages and counts, with the latter in parentheses. P-values are for differences between cases with a disabling infant health condition and without a disabling health condition, based on two-tailed t tests for comparison of means for binary variables or χ2 tests for categorical variables. All maternal characteristics and psychosocial factors are measured before the birth of the child or while the mother was still in the hospital after giving birth. Variables are based on information from apostpartum interview; bmaternal or newborn medical record from birth; cmaternal or newborn medical record from birth hospitalization or postpartum interview; dmaternal or newborn medical record from birth hospitalization or any maternal interview with data on whether the father had ever been incarcerated prior to the child’s birth.