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Birth Outcomes among Descendants of Foreign-Born and US-Born Women in California: Variation by Race and Ethnicity

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Abstract

This study quantifies the magnitude and persistence of differences in adverse birth outcomes between descendants of foreign-born and US-born women by race/ethnicity. Using 1978–2015 California birth records, I linked records of infants to those of their mothers to create an intergenerational sample (N = 501,323 second generation mothers and 633,102 third generation daughters). Prevalence of low birthweight and preterm birth were calculated in both generations by race/ethnicity, and foreign-born status. An initial foreign-born advantage in birth outcomes is present among most racial/ethnic groups with the exception of foreign-born Asian women. In the subsequent generation, the foreign-origin advantage diminishes for most groups and a foreign-origin disadvantage in low birthweight emerges for descendants of Asian women. Findings largely persist after adjustment for sociodemographic and healthcare-related characteristics. These results underscore the importance of disaggregating by race, ethnicity, and foreign origin when possible to better understand perinatal health disparities in the population.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Noreen Goldman, Tod Hamilton, Elizabeth Armstrong, Arun Hendi, and Alícia Adsera for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Aging under Award T32AG000037 and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number P2CHD047879 and funding from the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University.

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  1. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Theresa Andrasfay

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Correspondence to Theresa Andrasfay.

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Andrasfay, T. Birth Outcomes among Descendants of Foreign-Born and US-Born Women in California: Variation by Race and Ethnicity. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 605–613 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01221-8

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