Factors Associated with Low Birth Weight Births Among African American Women

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between social support factors (marital status and financial support) and at-risk behaviors (alcohol consumption, drug use, cigarette smoking) among African American women and low birth weight births. This study is derived from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing database, which is a secondary data that this thesis utilized. Descriptive analysis, chi-square test statistics, and binary logistic regression analysis was performed between the dependent variable low birth weight and these six independent variables: marital status, family financial assistance, government financial assistance, alcohol consumption, drug use, and cigarette smoking. The three at-risk behaviors were combined as one categorical variable for the purposes of analysis. The results indicate that there is a statistical significant relationship between low birth weight and at-risk behaviors. Additionally, a statistical significant was found for government financial support but not for family financial support or marriage.