The social ecology of obstetrical competence

Abstract

Complications of pregnancy, labor, and delivery are more prevalent in the socially disadvantaged segments of the population. This empirical observation is assumed to reflect interclass and inter ethnic group differentials in obstetrical competence which, in turn, is assumed to be functionally related to such factors as maternal age, parity. the adequacy of prenatal care, nutritional variables, general physical and emotional health, and so forth. The obtained data indicate that Blacks as compared with Whites exhibit higher rates of obstetrical incompetence. Further, working class and lower class women are more obstetrically incompetent than their middle class counterparts. Obstetrical competence appears to be one central determinant of fetal or neonatal neurological status which, in turn, appears to be related to a variety of social problems including academic underachievement, mental retardation, various forms of psychopathology and perhaps conventional crime and delinquency.