Table 1.
Distribution of sociodemographic factors in the study population in each survey year.
| Survey years | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | |||||||
| Population (a) | 3552 | 3633 | 3178 | 2792 | 4768 | 7396 | ||||||
| Age when giving birth | N (b) | % (c) | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % |
| Under 20 | 193 | (4.8) | 143 | (3.4) | 111 | (3.3) | 108 | (4) | 152 | (4) | 137 | (3) |
| 20–24 | 914 | (25.3) | 739 | (19.6) | 461 | (14.1) | 367 | (13.4) | 640 | (15.2) | 792 | (13.9) |
| 25–29 | 1350 | (38.3) | 1410 | (38.9) | 1082 | (34.7) | 748 | (26.6) | 1143 | (26.3) | 2027 | (28.5) |
| 30 or over | 1086 | (31.6) | 1331 | (38.1) | 1519 | (47.9) | 1560 | (56.1) | 2818 | (54.5) | 4413 | (54.5) |
| Missing | 9 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 9 | 0.3 | 15 | 0.3 | 27 | 0.4 |
| Education—age when completed full-time education | ||||||||||||
| 16 or under (Least number of years of full-time education) | 1676 | (47.1) | 1448 | (40.3) | 982 | (31.8) | 707 | (25.6) | 886 | (19.2) | 872 | (13.3) |
| 17 or 18 | 1099 | (31.6) | 1303 | (36.8) | 1178 | (38) | 913 | (33.9) | 1451 | (31.5) | 1745 | (25.4) |
| Over 18 (Higher education) | 755 | (21.4) | 853 | (23) | 994 | (30.2) | 1156 | (40.4) | 2392 | (49.4) | 4702 | (61.3) |
| Missing | 22 | 0.6 | 29 | 0.8 | 24 | 0.8 | 16 | 0.6 | 39 | 0.8 | 77 | 1.0 |
| Socioeconomic status based on partner’s occupation (SOC) | ||||||||||||
| Managerial and professional | 301 | (8.9) | 392 | (11.3) | 331 | (9.8) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Intermediate | 876 | (26.5) | 875 | (25.9) | 941 | (31.8) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Skilled, Non-manual | 344 | (10.1) | 315 | (9.3) | 260 | (9) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Skilled, Manual | 1018 | (30.2) | 923 | (27.2) | 670 | (22.9) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Semi-skilled | 414 | (12.2) | 385 | (10.7) | 270 | (8.7) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Unskilled | 172 | (3.2) | 70 | (1.3) | 109 | (2.4) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Unclassified | 409 | (9.1) | 655 | (14.2) | 578 | (15.4) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Missing | 18 | 0.5 | 18 | 0.5 | 19 | 0.6 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Socioeconomic status based on mother’s occupation (NS-SEC) | ||||||||||||
| Managerial and professional | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1059.0 | (37.2) | 2187.0 | (44.3) | 3315.0 | (40.4) |
| Intermediate | - | - | - | - | - | - | 590.0 | (22.3) | 973.0 | (20.1) | 1402.0 | (19) |
| Routine and manual | - | - | - | - | - | - | 579.0 | (20.4) | 1172.0 | (25.4) | 1624.0 | (23.5) |
| Never worked | - | - | - | - | - | - | 300.0 | (11.1) | 282.0 | (7) | 515.0 | (9.3) |
| Unclassified | - | - | - | - | - | - | 264.0 | (9) | 154.0 | (3.2) | 540.0 | (7.9) |
| Employment status at 6 weeks after birth | ||||||||||||
| Paid maternity leave | 240 | (7.2) | 880 | (25.7) | 1254 | (40.9) | 1317 | (46.5) | 2834 | (58.3) | 4597 | (59.4) |
| Unpaid maternity leave | 311 | (8.9) | 241 | (6.4) | 219 | (6.5) | 123 | (4.1) | 169 | (3.6) | 301 | (4.2) |
| Doing paid work | 186 | (5.4) | 257 | (7.7) | 225 | (6.5) | 172 | (6.2) | 139 | (2.4) | 394 | (5.1) |
| Not doing paid work | 2797 | (78.5) | 2245 | (60.2) | 1470 | (46.1) | 1172 | (43.3) | 1601 | (35.7) | 2036 | (31.3) |
| Missing | 18 | 0.5 | 10 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.3 | 8 | 0.3 | 25 | 0.5 | 68 | 0.9 |
| Ethnicity | ||||||||||||
| White | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6,747 | (93.1) | 3904 | (80.6) | 5976 | (79.6) |
| Black, Asian, Mixed, Multiple or other | - | - | - | - | - | - | 415 | (6.9) | 813 | (19.4) | 1,131 | (20.4) |
| Missing | - | - | - | - | - | - | 206 | 2.8 | 51 | 1.1 | 289 | 3.9 |
| Partnership status | ||||||||||||
| Married | 3020 | (87.5) | 2859 | (81.2) | 2,315 | (74) | 1824 | (66.6) | 2994 | (64.7) | 4937 | (64.8) |
| Living with a partner | 240 | (6.6) | 383 | (10.6) | 494 | (16.2) | 620 | (22.7) | 1097 | (23.6) | 1773 | (25) |
| Single | 273 | (5.9) | 373 | (8.2) | 350 | (9.8) | 329 | (10.6) | 603 | (11.8) | 613 | (10.2) |
| Missing | 19 | 0.5 | 18 | 0.5 | 19 | 0.6 | 19 | 0.7 | 74 | 1.6 | 73 | 1.0 |
(a) Total unweighted population of mothers analysed for breastfeeding at 6 weeks in each survey.
(b) Number of mothers in each sociodemographic sub-group category, unweighted.
(c) Weighted proportion of mothers in each sociodemographic sub-group category.
Dash (-) = factor not assessed by the IFS in that survey year.