Low rate of initiation and short duration of breastfeeding in a maternal and infant home visiting project targeting rural, Southern, African American women

Table 1 Participant baseline demographic, anthropometric, and psychosocial characteristics overall and by breastfeeding initiation

	Overall		NBF (N = 33)		BF (N = 21)
Characteristic	n	%	n	%	n	%	P
Race							1.000
African American	79	96.3	32	97.0	20	95.2
White	3	3.7	1	3.0	1	4.8
Marital status							0.767
Single^a	76	92.7	29	87.9	19	90.5
Married	6	7.3	4	12.1	2	9.5
Education level^b							0.349
9th-11th grade	14	17.1	7	21.2	1	4.8
High school graduate	27	32.9	6	18.2	10	47.6
Some college/technical	30	36.6	14	42.4	6	28.6
College degree	11	13.4	6	18.2	4	19.0
Employment status							0.417
Full time/part-time	29	35.4	15	45.5	6	28.6
Unemployed (looking)	35	42.7	11	33.3	8	38.1
Homemaker/student	18	22.0	7	21.2	7	33.3
Household income^c							0.555
< $500	15	18.3	6	18.2	2	9.5
$500 -- $1,000	19	23.2	8	24.2	8	38.1
$1,001 -- $1,500	16	19.5	9	27.3	3	14.3
$1,501 -- $2,000	12	14.6	4	12.1	4	19.0
$2,001 -- $4,000	9	11.0	4	12.1	1	4.8
Don't know/refused to answer	11	13.4	2	6.1	3	14.3
Parity^d							0.006
First child	44	58.7	13	39.4	15	78.9
Second child	15	20.0	8	24.2	2	10.5
Third child	16	21.3	12	36.4	2	10.5
Smoker in household	24	29.3	12	36.4	4	19.0	0.174
Smoker^e							1.000
Current	4	4.9	1	3.0	1	4.8
Stopped before pregnancy	1	1.2	1	3.0	0	0.0
Stopped after became pregnant	2	2.4	1	3.0	0	0.0
Non	75	91.5	30	90.9	20	95.2
Receiving WIC	69	84.1	31	93.9	17	81.0	0.139
Gestational hypertension	5	6.1	0	0.0	3	14.3	0.054
Pre-pregnancy weight class^f							0.007
Underweight (BMI < 18.5)	7	8.5	4	12.1	2	9.5
Healthy weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25)	20	24.4	3	9.1	10	47.6
Overweight (25 ≤ BMI < 30)	19	23.2	12	36.4	2	9.5
Obese (BMI ≥ 30)	36	43.9	14	42.4	7	33.3
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	P
Age (years)	23.0	4.62	24.6	5.30	22.0	3.55	0.050
Household size	3.9	1.69	4.0	1.65	3.7	1.49	0.567
Gestational age^g	17.5	2.14	16.7	2.20	16.4	2.09	0.602

NBF no breastfeeding, BF initiated breastfeeding, WIC Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children, BMI body mass index
^aIncludes 1 participant who indicated she is divorced
^bComparison = less than or high school graduate vs. some college or greater
^cComparison performed as continuous variable due to large number of classes
^dComparison = non vs. 1 or 2
^eComparison = non vs. all other responses
^fBased on self-reported pre-pregnancy weight; comparison = underweight or healthy weight vs. overweight or obese
^gBased on reported due date; enrollment data collected late for 3 participants

ISSN: 1746-4358