Abstract
Our paper compares the birth outcomes of international migrant women in Germany to those of non-migrant women. In Germany, about one-third of all new- borns are born to migrant mothers. Since immigrant status and socio-economic disadvantages are highly correlated, the health of migrant children and their moth- ers has received increasing attention in the international literature. When investigat- ing perinatal outcomes, the evidence on the effect of the immigrant status of the mother on the birthweight of her child has been contradictory. We use the sample of newborns collected by the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), which contains pre- and perinatal variables that allow us to analyse the determinants of adverse birthweight outcomes. The data are on 1641 births that occurred between 2001 and 2010. Our study investigates the risk for children to be born with low or high birthweights (LBW and HBW) and small and large size for gestational age (SGA and LGA) by applying logistic regression analyses. We fi nd that immigrant status is as- sociated with a lower prevalence of low birthweight (LBW) and at the same time with a higher prevalence of increased prenatal growth (LGA). Control variables of the mother - age, parity, height, BMI, education, and smoking - cannot explain the birthweight differences between migrants and non-migrants. The fi ndings support recent assumptions in the literature that the risk of low birthweight among new- borns of migrant mothers has been levelling off. However, our results also suggest that new disadvantages of immigrants result from large size for gestational age, which increases the child's risk of overweight later in life.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.