Racial Differentials in Infant Mortality in the U.S.: An Examination of Social and Health Determinants

Social Forces ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Hummer
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Racial Differentials ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. Children's Bureau and Infant Mortality in the Progressive Era

1995 ◽  
Vol 177 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kriste Lindenmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Infant Mortality Rate ◽  
Child Welfare Policy ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Diagnostic Work ◽  
National Effort ◽  
The U.S

Early in the twentieth century, a growing child welfare movement led to the establishment of the first federal agency in the world, the U.S. Children's Bureau, designated to investigate and report on the circumstances of children. Appointed in 1912, the agency's first director, Julia Lathrop, focused on infant mortality, beginning with a year's study in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The work stimulated a national effort to “save babies.” The Bureau's efforts led to the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921, which funded educational and diagnostic work to lower the nation's high infant mortality rate. But this type of effort was short-lived. The article describes the course of the agency's work in the Progressive Era and evaluates its effect on current child welfare policy, a key area in the ongoing controversy over “welfare reform” and the role of the federal government in the provision of human services.

The Shift from Pro-Fertility Norms to Individual-Choice Norms

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
The U.S

Secularization is accelerating. From 1981 to 2007, more than two-thirds of the publics for which we have data became more religious, but then a major shift occurred: from 2007 to 2020, more than four-fifths of these publics became less religious. Up to 2007 the U.S. showed little change, but since then it showed the largest shift of any country away from religion and now ranks among the world’s least religious publics. One generally overlooked reason for accelerating secularization is that, for centuries, most religions encouraged pro-fertility norms that limit women to producing as many children as possible and discourage any sexual behavior not linked with reproduction. These norms were needed when facing high infant mortality and low life expectancy but now are rapidly giving way to individual-choice norms supporting gender equality and tolerance of divorce, abortion, and LGBTQ people. Pro-fertility norms are so strongly linked with religion that abandoning them undermines religiosity.

Race/Ethnicity/Nativity Differentials and Changes in Cause-Specific Infant Deaths in the Context of Declining Infant Mortality in the U.S.: 1989–2001

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Parker Frisbie ◽  
Robert A. Hummer ◽  
Daniel A. Powers ◽  
Seung-Eun Song ◽  
Starling G. Pullum
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Birth Order and Injury-Related Infant Mortality in the U.S.

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Ahrens ◽  
Lauren M. Rossen ◽  
Marie E. Thoma ◽  
Margaret Warner ◽  
Alan E. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Birth Order ◽  
The U.S

Infant Health, Women's Fertility, and Rural Electrification in the United States, 1930–1960

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Lewis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Infant Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural Electrification ◽  
Rural Counties ◽  
Electricity Access ◽  
The U.S

From 1930 to 1960 rural communities, mainly in the U.S. South and Southwest, gained access to electricity. In addition to lights, the benefits included easier clothes washing, refrigeration, and pumped water. This article uses differences in the timing of electricity access across rural counties to study the effects on infant mortality and fertility. Rural electrification led to substantial reductions in infant mortality but had little effect on women's fertility. The increase in electricity access between 1930 and 1960 can account for 15 to 19 percent of the decline in rural infant mortality during this period.

Chlorhexidine Adoption in Nigeria

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Kara Palamountain ◽  
Tim Calkins
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Umbilical Cord ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Reduce Infant Mortality ◽  
Market Situation ◽  
The U.S

It is January 2017, and Nikki Tyler, market access advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, must recommend an actionable strategy for how to use the $10 million contributed by global donors and foundations to scale up the use of chlorhexidine in Nigeria. It was clear that chlorhexidine, a substance applied to newborns' umbilical cord stumps to prevent infection, could reduce infant mortality significantly. However, changing behavior would be an enormous challenge. This case gives students an appreciation for the importance and complexity of global health issues, along with an understanding of key analytic techniques for approaching a complex market situation. Students quickly learn that there are no easy answers to encouraging chlorhexidine's greater use. To develop a plan, it is essential to complete detailed analyses, study insights and motivations, and ultimately compare different possible solutions, considering efficiency and efficacy.

The Political Realignment of Health: How Partisan Power Shaped Infant Health in the U.S., 1915–2017

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Rodríguez ◽  
Byengseon Bae ◽  
Arline T. Geronimus ◽  
John Bound
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Realignment ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The U.S. two-party system was transformed in the 1960s, when the Democratic Party abandoned its Jim Crow protectionism to incorporate the policy agenda fostered by the Civil Rights Movement and the Republican Party redirected its platform toward socioeconomic and racial conservatism. We argue that the policy agendas that the parties promote through presidents and state legislatures codify a racially patterned access to resources and power detrimental to the health of all. To test the hypothesis that fluctuations in overall and race-specific infant mortality rates (IMR) shift between the parties in power before and after the Political Realignment, we apply panel data analysis methods to state-level data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 1915–2017. Net of trend, overall, and race-specific infant mortality rates were not statistically different between presidential parties before the Political Realignment. This pattern, however, changed after the Political Realignment, with Republican administrations consistently underperforming Democratic ones. Net of trend, non-Southern state legislatures controlled by Republicans underperform Democratic ones in overall and racial IMRs in both periods.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document