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Author: Cramer, James C.

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1.	Cramer, James C.
1.	Family Structure and Infant Health Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1987 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Population Association of America Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Birthweight; Child Health; Childbearing; Family Structure; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Height, Height-Weight Ratios; Household Composition; Income; Morbidity; Mortality; Mothers; Mothers, Height Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. The risks of low birthweight and infant morbidity and mortality are higher for teenage and unmarried mothers than for other mothers. These risks are conditional: the difference in risks between married and unmarried mothers is small among adolescents and large among older mothers. An explanation of the conditional risks is proposed in terms of income and family structure. Teenage and unmarried mothers have low incomes, hence the higher risks; among unmarried teenage mothers, the effects of low income are mitigated by living at home with relatives and receiving financial assistance from relatives. This hypothesis is tested with data on birthweight for white mothers, using the NLSY. The expected patterns of low income and residential and financial assistance from relatives are indeed found; differences in income and assistance by age and marital status are very large. However, income and family assistance are unrelated to birthweight and most of its proximate determinants, e.g., weight gain, prenatal care, or smoking. Thus, income and family assistance do not explain the effects of age and marital status on birthweight among white mothers. Smoking and pre-pregnancy weight-for-height do explain these effects; weight gain and prenatal care are also important. These results suggest that youth subcultures, media advertising and images, and personal preferences, not income, are the factors responsible for poor pregnancy outcomes among teenage and unmarried white mothers.
	Bibliography Citation Cramer, James C. "Family Structure and Infant Health." Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1987.

2.	Cramer, James C.
2.	Patterns of Poverty and Financial Assistance Among Premature Mothers Presented: Baltimore, MD, Population Association of America Meetings, 1989 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Population Association of America Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Child Care; Childbearing; Household Composition; Life Cycle Research; Mothers; Poverty; Racial Differences; Welfare Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Women who deviate from the normative life cycle by bearing children "too soon" relative to the proscribed age or sequence of events (e.g. teenage or unwed mothers) can be called "premature mothers." One of the most pressing problems experienced by premature mothers is a high incidence of poverty. This paper user NLSY data to describe patterns of poverty among premature mothers from before birth until three years after birth, by race and ethnicity. Patterns of assistance from relatives and from public programs, and relationships among the types of assistance, also are described. Several factors associated with patterns of poverty and assistance are examined.
	Bibliography Citation Cramer, James C. "Patterns of Poverty and Financial Assistance Among Premature Mothers." Presented: Baltimore, MD, Population Association of America Meetings, 1989.

3.	Cramer, James C.
3.	Racial and Ethnic Differences in Birthweight: The Role of Income and Financial Assistance Demography 32,2 (May 1995): 231-247. Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/q17147u630600115/ Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Population Association of America Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birth Order; Birthweight; Ethnic Differences; Family Income; Financial Assistance; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Racial Differences; Self-Esteem; Substance Use Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. This paper attempts to explain the differences in birthweight observed between blacks, white Anglos, Chicanos, and other racial and ethnic groups. The analysis focuses on the role of income and financial assistance from relatives and public programs. Using data from the NLS Youth Panel, I construct a causal model of birthweight containing exogenous social and demographic risk factors and intervening proximate determinants of birthweight. A substantial part of the gap in birthweight between white Anglos and other ethnic groups (especially blacks) can be explained by the unfavorable socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the latter. On the other hand, blacks and other minorities smoke less and have other favorable proximate characteristics that depress differences in birthweight. When these proximate determinants are controlled, large ethic differences in birthweight remain unexplained by income and other sociodemographic factors.
	Bibliography Citation Cramer, James C. "Racial and Ethnic Differences in Birthweight: The Role of Income and Financial Assistance." Demography 32,2 (May 1995): 231-247.

4.	Cramer, James C. Bell, Katrina Vaast, Katherine
4.	Race, Ethnicity, and the Determinants of Low Birthweight in the U.S. Presented: Bethesda, MD, NICHD Workshop on Social and Demographic Research on Infant Mortality and Low Birthweight, 1990 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Birthweight; Family Income; Household Composition; Mortality; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Racial Differences; Welfare This paper explores possible explanations of racial and ethnic variations in the incidence of low birthweight with a special focus on income and poverty. The paper reports on two closely-related research efforts: (1) a statistical study of data on low birthweight using the NLSY; and (2) a small, in-depth, qualitative study of young, low-income mothers from Sacramento, California. Results of the NLSY study indicated that the causal model of birthweight constructed performs moderately well among white anglo mothers. The socioeconomic, demographic, and parenting skills variables and proximate determinants generally are related to birthweight in the expected directions, but only the proximate determinants have very strong effects; the overall model explains about 13 percent of the variation in birthweight among this sample of anglos. The same model can be used also with other racial and ethnic groups. Mean birthweight is significantly lower among blacks and Puerto Ricans, and sligh tly lower among chicanos and American Indians, than among white anglos. The gap in birthweight relative to anglos is explained in terms of unfavorable socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and parenting skills of the other racial and ethnic groups. On the other hand, each group has favorable characteristics on the proximate determinants relative to anglos which depress the birthweight gap; controlling for these differences increases the estimates of birthweight gap, especially among blacks. The model sheds light on, but does not explain racial and ethnic differences in birthweight. A primary hypothesis in the research was that income is strongly associated with low birthweight and that low income accounts for much of the excess incidence of low birthweight among blacks and other minorities. This hypothesis is weakly supported at best by the evidence presented here. A discussion of the effects of income on birthweight by groups is presented.
	Bibliography Citation Cramer, James C., Katrina Bell and Katherine Vaast. "Race, Ethnicity, and the Determinants of Low Birthweight in the U.S." Presented: Bethesda, MD, NICHD Workshop on Social and Demographic Research on Infant Mortality and Low Birthweight, 1990.

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