Mother's age, birth order and health status in a British national sample
Kaplan, B.A.; Mascie-Taylor, C.G.
Medical Anthropology 13(4): 353-367
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0145-9740 PMID: 1545693 DOI: 10.1080/01459740.1992.9966057Document Number: 325137
Anthropologists analyzed longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study on 18,559 people born in England, Wales, and Scotland between March 1958 and 1982 to determine whether social factors influence child development and to examine the effect of maternal age and child rearing on child health. A child whose mother was among the youngest mothers and had either no other or just 1 older child was more likely to be regularly taken to a child health clinic than a higher birth order child born to an older mother (= or 25 years) (p .001). A younger mother who had no other or just 1 child tended to have her child immunized against the preventable childhood diseases (p . 001), particularly small pox immunization. The children of mothers of about average age were more likely to suffer from rubella, chicken pox, measles, and mumps than those of younger and older mothers (p .001). Younger mothers were also more likely to say their children were unhealthy than older mothers with many children. These findings suggested that mother's age and birth order did indeed affect health status.