Interracial or interethnic relationships and neighborhood diversity may impact birth outcomes

Jan. 19, 2021
Heart of hands by multiethnic couple on pregnant belly.

In the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes are pervasive. Since 1989, a child’s race or ethnicity has been determined using that of the mother only, but a recent study lead by CUNY SPH Distinguished Professor Luisa N. Borrell suggests that the father’s race or ethnicity and the diversity of the mother’s neighborhood also play a role.

Borrell and colleagues found interracial or interethnic marriages or relationships to be associated with poor birth outcomes like low birth weight, preterm birth, and infant death, with the worst outcomes observed for the least common marriages or relationships such as a Black or Hispanic woman with an Asian partner or an Asian woman with a Black partner. Notably, the diversity of neighborhoods seemed to moderate the association between interracial or interethnic marriage and birth outcomes, with high diversity attenuating birth outcome disparities for interracial/ethnic marriages relative to White marriages.

“It is possible that women in interracial or interethnic marriages experience stress associated with discrimination as a result of being less accepted in society and that neighborhood racial and ethnic diversity where these marital arrangements reside and interact with other people buffers such feelings of rejection by providing a sense of belonging and acceptance within these diverse communities,” Borrell explains.

The researchers used data from six years of New York City birth and infant death records. The large and diverse sample allowed for the use of multilevel analysis, the assessment of neighborhood variation and the test of effect measure modifications between race or ethnicity and neighborhood racial and ethnic composition.

The findings underscore the need to consider the race or ethnicity of mothers’ partners and their neighborhoods, calling attention to the role of context where individuals reside, and their daily interactions take place.

“Neighborhood racial and ethnic composition may buffer women’s stress of being in an interracial or interethnic marriage and lead to better birth outcomes by promoting social support and cohesion as well as a sense of belonging within their communities,” Borrell says.

Luisa N. Borrell, Hanish Kodali, Elena Rodriguez-Alvarez, Interracial/ethnic marriage and adverse birth outcomes: The effect of neighborhood racial/ethnic composition, Social Science & Medicine, Volume 270, 2021, 113560, ISSN 0277-9536.

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