The Relationship between maternal work patterns and duration of breast -feeding among rural Malay women
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Date
1982-08
Authors
Launer, Lenore Joy
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Abstract
In this study, selected social determinants of the duration
of breast-feeding were examined in a sample of rural Malay women.
Two hypotheses were tested: (1) there are differences in the factors
that mediate the relationship between selected socio-economic and
community variables and the duration of breast-feeding among
population subgroups defined by occupation and (2) among employed
women, work characteristics are mediating determinants of duration
of breast-feeding.
These hypotheses were tested using retrospective data from the
Malaysian Family Life Survey (MFLS) conducted by the Rand Corporation
in 1976-1977. A subsample from the.MFLS sample was selected to
include: Malay live births born within five years of the survey
date, children whose breast-feeding experience was behaviorally
determined, infants who breast-fed more than 24 hours, and children
who.had been weaned by the time of the survey. Of the 479 cases
that met these criteria, 328 were included in the analysis. All
the cases were born to rural mothers who were unemployed or were
employed in agricultural or-non-agricultural occupations. Both
bivariate·and multivariate regression analyses were used to test
the hypotheses.
Maternal region of residence, age, educational level, and
household income were significantly related to duration of
breast-feeding. The analysis suggested that among occupation
groups, different factors mediated the relationship between
region of residence and duration of breast-feeding and educational
level and duration of breast-feeding.
The characteristics of maternal work (including distance to
work, activity status, number of hours worked, and number of jobs
held} were not associated with duration of breast-feeding. The
conclusion that maternal work characteristics do not affect duration
of breast-feeding is tentative: there is the possibility that the
amount of time that could be allocated to breast-feeding that was · ·
gained from or lost to work was not accurately reflected in the
l measurements used in this study. This possibility could have
obscured the relationship between maternal work and breast-feeding
patterns. Future research on ·this relationship must carefully
define work characteristics so that differences are captured
in the opportunity for women to breast-feed while working;
it must also consider the factors that might confound this
relationship. Issues also are raised about the use for hypothesistesting:
of retrospective recall data on the duration of · · .
breast-feeding. •
The major finding of this study is that there are subgroups
in a population that differ in the determinants of their breastfeeding
patterns. These heterogeneous groups must be identified·
and the determinants of their breast-feeding patterns analyzed
separately. Pooling groups in an analysis may mask the true
underlying mechanisms influencing a woman's decision about
adopting a particular mode of infant-feeding.
Description
Keywords
Maternal work patterns , Breast -feeding , Rural Malay women