Maternal sociodemographic characteristics and the use of the Iowa Infant Attitude Feeding Scale to describe breastfeeding initiation and duration in a population of urban, Latina mothers: a prospective cohort study

Table 1 Maternal sociodemographic characteristics among 185 participants

Characteristic	n (%)^aor mean±SD
Maternal age in years	26.3±5.2
Country of birth
USA	12 (6.5)
Mexico	102 (55.4)
Central America	62 (33.7)
Other	8 (4.3)
Primary language
English	12 (6.5)
Spanish	173 (93.5)
Years living in the US
≤1	25 (14.6)
> 1 and ≤ 5	66 (38.6)
> 5 and ≤10	49 (28.7)
> 10	31 (18.1)
Years in US for foreign born	6.4±5.9
Marital status^b
Partnered	154 (83.7)
Not partnered	30 (16.3)
Any employment
Yes	61 (33.0)
No	124 (67.0)
Education
High school or less	143 (78.6)
Some college	30 (16.5)
College	5 (2.7)
Post college	4 (2.2)
WIC participation^c
Yes	171 (92.4)
No	14 (7.6)
Other children
Yes	99 (53.5)
No	86 (46.5)
Previously breastfed^d
Yes	92 (92.0)
No	8 (8.0)
Depressive symptoms at intake^e
Yes	61 (34.7)
No	115 (65.3)
Depressive symptoms 4–6 weeks postpartum
Yes	30 (16.6)
No	151 (83.4)
BMI^f
Pre-pregnancy	26.1±5.5
6 months postpartum	29.0±6.5
12 months postpartum	28.8±6.3
Pre-pregnancy BMI category^g
Normal (< 25)	79 (47.3)
Overweight (≥25 or <30)	56 (33.5)
Obese (≥30)	32 (19.2)

^a n and percentages represent those who answered the question.
^b Partner status identified by women and included single but living with a partner.
^c Women, Infants and Children.
^d Calculated among those who had previous children (n=100).
^e Participants scoring positive on at least one of the three depression instruments administered.
^f Body Mass Index, calculated in kg/m².
^g Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Body Mass Index. Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, Atlanta, GA, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html.

ISSN: 1746-4358