There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Using the Linked Birth and Death data set for 1990, the County-City Plus for 1993,
and Summary Tape Files (STF) for 1990, a multilevel model is utilized to examine the
influence of county and individual-level characteristics on low birthweight risk for
white, black, Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican infants in the United States. Logistic
regression results show that the racial and ethnic differences in low birthweight
are not only the result of the individual-level characteristics of the mother, but
also are a function of the characteristics of the county where the mother resides.
Support for the contention that contextual factors work directly and indirectly to
affect low birthweight risk was found. Separate racial/ethnic models indicate that
the specific contextual variables that account for low birthweight risk vary across
racial/ethnic groups.