Child Wantedness and Low Weight at Birth: Differential Parental Investment among Roma

Abstract

Studies investigating child wantedness, birthweight and parental care are limited. This study assessed relationships of child wantedness, low birthweight and differential parental investment in a poor population of Serbian Roma. Data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey round 5 for Roma settlements were used to account for the association between child wantedness and birthweight, and three measures of parental investment: breastfeeding practices, immunization of children and quality of mother–child interaction. The sample included 584 children aged 0–24 months. The child variables were gender, birth order, birthweight (low birthweight at <2500 g and normal birthweight at >2500 g) and whether the child was wanted, while maternal independent variables included age, literacy and household wealth. The results show that unwanted children were at greater risk of having low birthweight. After controlling for birthweight, child wantedness emerged as a predictor of breastfeeding practices and immunization status: Roma mothers biased their investment toward children who were wanted. The quality of mother–child interaction varied with the mother’s household wealth. Given the high rates of infant and child mortality among Roma, investments in children’s health should be prioritized within the family, where maternal bias in parental investment may contribute to their children’s health disparities.

Maternal age at marriage and child nutritional status and development: evidence from Serbian Roma communities

“…Early development of Roma children was positively influenced by maternal investment; across various studies, activities with children such as reading, singing and playing are consistently associated positively with language, cognitive and socio-emotional development (35) . As in other studies, overall parental investment was low but higher for mothers (30,74) and lowest for children born to mothers who married at 10-15 years of age, indicating that the overall investment received may be reduced in households with numerous children.…”

“…In this sample, the observed mean age at first marriage was 17, while the mean age at first reproduction was at an optimum of 18 years. Previous studies on the Roma reproductive pattern found that Roma women start reproducing at the optimum age, continue having children in their most fertile years and cease reproduction relatively early, with later age at first reproduction being significantly associated with infant low birth weight (20,30) . The risks associated with later maternal age at first reproduction include changes in children's quantity but also quality, suggesting a significant disadvantage of delayed age at first reproduction (21,(42)(43)(44) .…”

“…Other potential confounders, such as mother's height, health status, history of preterm births or low birth weights of older children and levels of kin support, were not collected. The data collected were only for surviving children; inclusion of child mortality data would have affected the results obtained (30) . In light of these results, future research should focus upon investigating the many other factors that may possibly reveal associations between maternal age at marriage and children's health and developmental outcomes.…”

“…Maternal age at the time of the survey, maternal literacy skills and household access to improved toilet facility were used as proxies for socioeconomic status. Other maternal variables included age at first reproduction, parity, whether a mother ever had a child who later died (as a proxy for child mortality), current marriage status, and parental stimulating caregiving practices (as a proxy for parental investment) (30) . Parental investment refers to any expenditure in terms of parental time, energy and resources used that benefit children (33) .…”

“…Compared with non-Roma, Roma children are often lagging in their developmental and nutritional status (27) . Previous research on Roma children's health has mostly focused on social determinants of health (28)(29)(30) . In spite of the prevalence of child marriage and consequent early childbearing among Roma women, there is a lack of studies addressing the association between early marriage and the health outcomes of Roma children.…”