Table 2.
Sociodemographic characteristics of 95 Aboriginal and 185 non‐Aboriginal mothers a
| Characteristic | Aboriginal b n (%) | Non‐Aboriginal b n (%) | P‐value c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brought up by mother and father | 49 (53) | 156 (84) | <0.001 |
| Highest level of education | <0.001 | ||
| Bachelor/postgraduate degree | 1 (1) | 50 (27) | |
| Other post‐school | 42 (45) | 87 (47) | |
| Years 11–12 | 17 (18) | 29 (16) | |
| ≤Year 10 | 33 (35) | 18 (10) | |
| Any post‐school training | 43 (46) | 137 (74) | <0.001 |
| Employment history | <0.001 | ||
| Works now/recently | 31 (41) | 127 (71) | |
| Worked in past but not recently | 26 (35) | 48 (27) | |
| Has never worked | 18 (24) | 4 (2) | |
| Current employment type 26 | <0.001 | ||
| ABS skill level 1–2 (higher) | 6 (6) | 49 (26) | |
| ABS skill level 3–5 (lower) | 25 (27) | 78 (42) | |
| Unemployed | 62 (67) | 58 (31) | |
| Pacifier use in children aged: | |||
| 1–3 weeks | 41 (44) | 95 (51) | 0.3 |
| 6–8 weeks | 38 (49) | 120 (68) | <0.01 |
| 4 months | 31 (43) | 96 (58) | <0.05 |
| 6 months | 26 (36) | 93 (56) | <0.01 |
| Any breast milk given at age d : | |||
| 1–3 weeks | 80 (84) | 157 (85) | 1 |
| 6–8 weeks | 57 (72) | 128 (72) | 0.9 |
| 4 months | 45 (62) | 103 (65) | 0.9 |
| 6 months | 43 (59) | 93 (56) | 0.8 |
a
Five non‐Aboriginal mothers had Aboriginal children (i.e. fathers were Aboriginal).
b
Discrepancies in denominators due to missing data.
c
P‐values for comparison between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal mothers.
d
Follow‐up was incomplete after age 1–3 weeks resulting in different denominators in each age group.
ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics.