Popul Stud (Camb). 2019 Nov;73(3):369-386. doi: 10.1080/00324728.2019.1654613. Epub 2019 Oct 01.

Mind the gap: The health advantages that accompany parental marriage vary by maternal nativity.

Population studies

Wendy Sigle, Alice Goisis

PMID: 31570057 DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2019.1654613

Abstract

Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we examine whether and how the health benefits of having two biological parents in a continuous marital relationship vary by maternal nativity and ethnicity, comparing UK-born White mothers with: (1) White mothers born in wealthy countries; (2) ethnic minority mothers from South Asia; and (3) ethnic minority mothers born in Africa. Making novel use of classification and regression tree (CART) methods, we examine whether marital status is a uniform marker of economic advantage or better health-related behaviours across the four maternal nativity and ethnic groups. The findings, which indicate that the health-related advantages associated with parental marriage are not uniform across the four nativity and ethnic groups, have implications for future research on family gaps in well-being and the socio-economic determinants of health.

Keywords: CART; assimilation; child well-being; family structure; health production; parental marriage; recursive partitioning

MeSH terms

• Asians / statistics & numerical data
• Blacks / statistics & numerical data
• Child Health
• Child, Preschool
• Cohort Studies
• Developed Countries / statistics & numerical data
• Developing Countries / statistics & numerical data
• Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data*
• Female
• Health Behavior / ethnology
• Health Status*
• Humans
• Male
• Marital Status / ethnology*
• Minority Groups
• Mothers / statistics & numerical data*
• Parents
• Racial Groups / statistics & numerical data*
• Socioeconomic Factors
• United Kingdom / epidemiology
• Whites / statistics & numerical data

Publication Types

• Journal Article
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't