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5. FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONSET OF MOTHERHOOD IN POLAND

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONSET OF MOTHERHOOD IN POLAND

Kaczmarek Maria

Department of Human Biological Development, Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland

Kaczmarek Maria, e-mail: makac@amu.edu.pl.

Abstract

Factors of lifestyle and social behaviour were examined in relation to the age at first childbirth given by Polish women. In a sample of 1924 parous women aged 35–45 years at the time of examination, crude associations between maternal age at first birth and selected covariates including place of residence, educational attainment, employment status, financial strain, physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and weight status were evaluated. The bivariate relations were then adjusted to marital status and use of oral contraceptives (OCU).The study revealed key sets of social predictor variables for maternal first birth age in Poland. The large city residents with higher educational level, currently employed and without financial strain, non-smoking cigarettes and non-drinking alcohol, participating in physical exercises and maintaining proper weight and oral contraceptive users were more likely to delay their first childbirth over the median age of 23 years, than their counterparts. The most important predictors of the maternal first birth age included: educational attainment (F=19.8; p<0.001), place of residence (F=4.2 p<0.021), employment status (F=3.7; p=0.026), tobacco use (F=5.0; p=0.007), and use of oral contraceptives (F=3.6; p=0.033), they explained 15% of the total variance in the maternal first birth age. The probability of delivering first child at more advanced age was almost two times higher for the large-city residents than for their rural counterparts (OR=1.58); five times higher for women with better educational qualifications as compared to primarily educated peers (OR=5.24). Currently employed women were 1.5 times more likely to be primiparous at a more advanced age than the unemployed counterparts (OR=1.5). Current smokers were 1.3 times less likely than their peers who had never smoked to deliver a child at an older age (OR=0.75). The OC users were 1.5 times more likely to delay childbirth than never OCU counterparts. The study results confirmed the importance of women’s educational level in undertaking decision about motherhood.

Keywords

maternal age at first childbirth, social status, lifestyle behaviour

Цит.: Kaczmarek Maria FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONSET OF MOTHERHOOD IN POLAND // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 71-71