Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:06:24.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SELF-RATED HEALTH AND TEENAGE PREGNANCIES IN ROMA WOMEN: INCREASING HEIGHT IS ASSOCIATED WITH BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2018

Jelena Čvorović Open the ORCID record for Jelena Čvorović [Opens in a new window]
Jelena Čvorović*
Affiliation:
Institute of Ethnography, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This paper reports on the association between early marriage, age at first reproduction and height, as an indicator of childhood environment, and maternal health outcomes among traditional Roma women in Serbia. Demographic data, marital and reproductive histories, height, weight and self-rated health were collected from 414 Roma women living in rural settlements in Serbia in 2015–2017. Data analysis showed that higher age and weight were associated with a greater risk of poor health, greater height contributed to reduced risk of poor health while reproductive variables were insignificant. The study provides evidence that the long-term effects of early childbearing may not always be associated with poorer health status. As indicated by the differences in height, it is likely that women who were capable of reproducing very early on and staying healthy in later life were probably very healthy to begin with. The results probably reflect both the biological and social differences of early childhood. Aside from height, the traditional Roma marriage pattern and social benefits may have an additional protective effect on the health of women.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 444 - 456
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amin, S., Asadullah, M. N., Hossain, S. & Wahhaj, Z. (2017) Eradicating child marriage in the Commonwealth: is investment in girls’ education sufficient? Round Table 106(2), 221–223.Google Scholar
Berta, P. (2013) Classification struggles, moral criticism and the interethnic trade of prestige goods between two Romanian Gypsy groups. Journal of Consumer Culture 13(3), 337–365.10.1177/1469540513484322Google Scholar
Black, A. Y., Fleming, N. A. & Rome, E. S. (2012) Pregnancy in adolescents. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews 23(1), 123–138.Google Scholar
Bošnjak, B. & Acton, T. (2013) Virginity and early marriage customs in relation to children’s rights among Chergashe Gypsy from Serbia and Bosnia. International Journal of Human Rights 17(5–6), 646–667.10.1080/13642987.2013.831697Google Scholar
Bozzoli, C., Deaton, A. & Quintana-Domeque, C. (2009) Adult height and childhood disease. Demography 46(4), 647–669.10.1353/dem.0.0079Google Scholar
Case, A. & Paxson, C. (2010) Causes and consequences of early-life health. Demography 47(1), S65–S85.10.1353/dem.2010.0007Google Scholar
Chandola, T. & Jenkinson, C. (2000) Validating self-rated health in different ethnic groups. Ethnicity and Health 5(2), 151–159.10.1080/713667451Google Scholar
Coe, K. & Čvorović, J. (2017) The health of Romanian Gypsy women in Serbia. Health Care for Women International 38(4), 409–422.Google Scholar
Cook, B., Wayne, G. F., Valentine, A., Lessios, A. & Yeh, E. (2013) Revisiting the evidence on health and health care disparities among the Roma: a systematic review 2003–2012. International Journal of Public Health 58(6), 885–911.10.1007/s00038-013-0518-6Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2010) EU and Roma. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/roma/index_en.htm (accessed 5th January 2018).Google Scholar
Čvorovic, J. (2010) Roast Chicken and Other Gypsy Stories. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main.10.3726/978-3-653-00494-6Google Scholar
Čvorovic, J. (2014) The Roma: A Balkan Underclass. Ulster Institute for Social Research, London, UK.Google Scholar
Čvorović, J. & Coe, K. (2017) Reproductive investment and health costs in Roma women. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14(11), 1337.Google Scholar
Čvorović, J. & James, S. A. (2017) John Henryism, gender and self-reported health among Roma/Gypsies in Serbia. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, doi: 10.1007/s11013-017-9561-8.Google Scholar
Čvorović, J. & Lynn, R. (2014) Intelligence and reproductive success of Bosnians, Serbs and Roma in Serbia. Mankind Quarterly 54(3–4), 434–446.Google Scholar
Čvorović, J., Rushton, J. P. & Tenjevic, L. (2008) Maternal IQ and child mortality in 222 Serbian Roma (Gypsy) women. Personality and Individual Differences 44(7), 1604–1609.Google Scholar
Darviri, C., Fouka, G., Gnardellis, C., Artemiadis, A. K., Tigani, X. & Alexopoulos, E. C. (2012) Determinants of self-rated health in a representative sample of a rural population: a cross-sectional study in Greece. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9(3), 943–954.10.3390/ijerph9030943Google Scholar
Deaton, A. & Arora, R. (2009) Life at the top: the benefits of height. Economics & Human Biology 7(2), 133–136.10.1016/j.ehb.2009.06.001Google Scholar
Doblhammer, G. & Oeppen, J. (2003) Reproduction and longevity among the British peerage: the effect of frailty and health selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 270(1524), 1541–1547.10.1098/rspb.2003.2400Google Scholar
Fay, R., Barbraud, C., Delord, K. & Weimerskirch, H. (2016) Variation in the age of first reproduction: different strategies or individual quality? Ecology 97(7), 1842–1851.Google Scholar
FSG (Fundación Secretariado Gitano) (2009) Health and the Roma Community: Analysis of the Situation in Europe. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain. FSG, Madrid, Spain. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_health_en.pdf (accessed 15th January 2018).Google Scholar
Gagnon, A. (2015) Natural fertility and longevity. Fertility and Sterility 103, 1109–1116.Google Scholar
Gallagher, A., Čvorović, J. & Štrkalj, G. (2009) Body mass index in Serbian Roma. HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology 60(6), 567–578.Google Scholar
Ganchimeg, T., Ota, E., Morisaki, N., Laopaiboon, M., Lumbiganon, P., Zhang, J. et al. (2014) Pregnancy and childbirth outcomes among adolescent mothers: a World Health Organization multicountry study. BJOG 121, 40–48.Google Scholar
Geronimus, A. (2003) Damned if you do: culture, identity, privilege, and teenage childbearing in the United States. Social Science & Medicine 57(5), 881–893.Google Scholar
Geronimus, A. T. & Korenman, S. (1991) The socioeconomic consequences of teen childbearing reconsidered. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107(4), 1187–1214.10.2307/2118385Google Scholar
Gibbs, C. M., Wendt, A., Peters, S. & Hogue, C. J. (2012) The impact of early age at first childbirth on maternal and infant health. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 26(1), 259–284.Google Scholar
Godha, D., Hotchkiss, D. R. & Gage, A. J. (2013) Association between child marriage and reproductive health outcomes and service utilization: a multi-country study from South Asia. Journal of Adolescent Health 52(5), 552–558.Google Scholar
Gresham, D., Morar, B., Underhill, P. A., Passarino, G., Lin, A. A., Wise, C. et al. (2001) Origins and divergence of the Roma (gypsies). American Journal of Human Genetics 69(6), 1314–1331.10.1086/324681Google Scholar
Grundy, E. & Read, S. (2015) Pathways from fertility history to later life health: results from analyses of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Demographic Research 32, 107–145.Google Scholar
Grundy, E. & Kravdal, Ø. (2010) Fertility history and cause-specific mortality: a register-based analysis of complete cohorts of Norwegian women and men. Social Science & Medicine 70(11), 1847–1857.Google Scholar
Grundy, E. & Kravdal, Ø. (2007) Reproductive history and mortality in late middle age among Norwegian men and women. American Journal of Epidemiology 167(3), 271–279.10.1093/aje/kwm295Google Scholar
Grundy, E. & Tomassini, C. (2005) Fertility history and health in later life: a record linkage study in England and Wales. Social Science & Medicine 61(1), 217–228.Google Scholar
Gurven, M., Costa, M., Trumble, B., Stieglitz, J., Beheim, B., Rodriguez, D. E. et al. (2016) Health costs of reproduction are minimal despite high fertility, mortality and subsistence lifestyle. Scientific Reports 6, 30056.Google Scholar
Guven, C. & Lee, W. S. (2015) Height, aging and cognitive abilities across Europe. Economics and Human Biology 16, 16–29.Google Scholar
Hardy, R., Lawlor, D. A., Black, S., Mishra, G. D. & Kuh, D. (2009) Age at birth of first child and coronary heart disease risk factors at age 53 years in men and women: British birth cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 63(2), 99–105.10.1136/jech.2008.076943Google Scholar
Helle, S. (2008) A tradeoff between reproduction and growth in contemporary Finnish women. Evolution and Human Behavior 29(3), 189–195.10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.11.009Google Scholar
Helle, S., Lummaa, V. & Jokela, J. (2005) Are reproductive and somatic senescence coupled in humans? Late, but not early, reproduction correlated with longevity in historical Sami women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 272(1558), 29–37.10.1098/rspb.2004.2944Google Scholar
Hinkula, M., Kauppila, A., Näyhä, S. & Pukkala, E. (2006) Cause-specific mortality of grand multiparous women in Finland. American Journal of Epidemiology 163(4), 367–373.Google Scholar
Hoffman, S. D. (1998) Teenage childbearing is not so bad after all ...or is it? A review of the new literature. Family Planning Perspectives 30(5), 236–243.Google Scholar
Janevic, T., Jankovic, J. & Bradley, E. (2012) Socioeconomic position, gender, and inequalities in self-rated health between Roma and non-Roma in Serbia. International Journal of Public Health 57(1), 49–55.Google Scholar
Jousilahti, P., Tuomilehto, J., Vartiainen, E., Eriksson, J. & Puska, P. (2000) Relation of adult height to cause-specific and total mortality: a prospective follow-up study of 31,199 middle-aged men and women in Finland. American Journal of Epidemiology 151(11), 1112–1120.10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a010155Google Scholar
Kamal, S. M., Hassan, C. H., Alam, G. & Ying, Y. (2015) Child marriage in Bangladesh: trends and determinants. Journal of Biosocial Science 47(1), 120–139.Google Scholar
Koh, H. (2014) The teen pregnancy prevention program: an evidence-based public health program model. Journal of Adolescent Health 54(3), S1–S2.Google Scholar
Kramer, K. L. & Lancaster, J. B. (2010) Teen motherhood in cross-cultural perspective. Annals of Human Biology 37(5), 613–628.10.3109/03014460903563434Google Scholar
Ladányi, J. & Szelényi, I. (2002) The nature and social determinants of Roma poverty: a cross-national comparison. Review of Sociology 8(2), 75–96.Google Scholar
Liu, J. & Lummaa, V. (2011) Age at first reproduction and probability of reproductive failure in women. Evolution and. Human Behavior 32(6), 433–443.Google Scholar
Lao, T. T. & Ho, L. F. (1997) The obstetric implications of teenage pregnancy. Human Reproduction 12(10), 2303–2305.Google Scholar
Leon, D. A., Smith, G. D., Shipley, M. & Strachan, D. (1995) Adult height and mortality in London: early life, socioeconomic confounding, or shrinkage? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 49(1), 5–9.10.1136/jech.49.1.5Google Scholar
Logar, M., Pavlič, D. R. & Maksuti, A. (2015) Standpoints of Roma women regarding reproductive health. BMC Women’s Health 15(1), 38.Google Scholar
Marphatia, A. A., Amable, G. & Reid, A. M. (2017) Women’s marriage age matters for public health: a review of the broader health and social implications in South Asia. Frontiers in Public Health 5, 269.Google Scholar
Mirowsky, J. (2005) Age at first birth, health, and mortality. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46(1), 32–50.Google Scholar
Monden, C. W. & Smits, J. (2009) Maternal height and child mortality in 42 developing countries. American Journal of Human Biology 21(3), 305–311.10.1002/ajhb.20860Google Scholar
Newson, L. & Richerson, P. J. (2009) Why do people become modern? A Darwinian explanation. Population and Development Review 35(1), 117–158.Google Scholar
Nour, N. M. (2006) Health consequences of child marriage in Africa. Emerging Infectious Diseases 12(11), 1644.Google Scholar
Oesch, N. & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2015) Influence of kin network on maternal and infant health and illness. Journal of Pregnancy and Child Health 2(2), 146.Google Scholar
Oli, M. K., Hepp, G. R. & Kennamer, R. A. (2002) Fitness consequences of delayed maturity in female wood ducks. Evolutionary Ecology Research 4(4), 563–576.Google Scholar
Osmanaj, E. (2014) The situation of the education of Romani children in Albania. Journal of Educational and Social Research 4(4), 121.Google Scholar
Pamporov, A. (2007) Sold like a donkey? Bride-price among the Bulgarian Roma. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13(2), 471–476.Google Scholar
Pereira, V. H., Costa, P. S., Santos, N. C., Cunha, P. G., Correia-Neves, M., Palha, J. A. & Sousa, N. (2016) Adult body height is a good predictor of different dimensions of cognitive function in aged individuals: a cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 8, 217.Google Scholar
Perelman, J. (2014) Are chronic diseases related to height? Results from the Portuguese National Health Interview Survey. Economics & Human Biology 15, 56–66.Google Scholar
Pirkle, C. M, de Albuquerque Sous,a, A. C., Alvarado, B. & Zunzunegui, M. V. (2014) Early maternal age at first birth is associated with chronic diseases and poor physical performance in older age: cross-sectional analysis from the International Mobility in Aging Study. BMC Public Health 14(1), 293.10.1186/1471-2458-14-293Google Scholar
Prasad, S., Sung, B. & Aggarwal, B. B. (2012) Age-associated chronic diseases require age-old medicine: role of chronic inflammation. Preventive Medicine 54(1), S29–S37.Google Scholar
Rah, J. H., Christian, P., Shamim, A. A., Arju, U. T., Labrique, A. B. & Rashid, M. (2008) Pregnancy and lactation hinder growth and nutritional status of adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Nutrition 138(8), 1505–1511.Google Scholar
Raj, A. (2010) When the mother is a child: the impact of child marriage on the health and human rights of girls. Archives of Disease in Childhood 95(11), 931–935.Google Scholar
Reichman, N. E. & Pagnini, D. L. (1997) Maternal age and birth outcomes: data from New Jersey. Family Planning Perspectives 29(6), 268–272.Google Scholar
Roth, M. & Toma, S. (2014) The plight of Romanian social protection: addressing the vulnerabilities and well-being in Romanian Roma families. International Journal of Human Rights 18(6), 714–734.Google Scholar
Santhya, K. G. (2011) Early marriage and sexual and reproductive health vulnerabilities of young women: a synthesis of recent evidence from developing countries. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology 23(5), 334–339.Google Scholar
Schnittker, J. & Bacak, V. (2014) The increasing predictive validity of self-rated health. PloS One 9(1), e84933.Google Scholar
Sear, R. (2007) The impact of reproduction on Gambian women: does controlling for phenotypic quality reveal costs of reproduction? American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132(4), 632–641.Google Scholar
Sear, R. (2010) Height and reproductive success: is bigger always better? In Frey, U. J., Störmer, C. & Willführ, K. P., (eds) Homo novus – A Human Without Illusions. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 127–143.Google Scholar
Sear, R. & Mace, R. (2008) Who keeps children alive? A review of the effects of kin on child survival. Evolution and Human Behavior 29(1), 1–18.Google Scholar
Sedlecky, K. & Rašević, M. (2015) Challenges in sexual and reproductive health of Roma people who live in settlements in Serbia. European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care 20(2), 101–109.Google Scholar
Silventoinen, K. (2003) Determinants of variation in adult body height. Journal of Biosocial Science 35(2), 263–285.Google Scholar
Smith, G. C. S. & Pell, J. P. (2001) Teenage pregnancy and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes associated with first and second births: population based retrospective cohort study. British Medical Journal 323(7311), 476–480.Google Scholar
Smith, G. D., Hart, C., Upton, M., Hole, D., Gillis, C., Watt, G. & Hawthorne, V. (2000) Height and risk of death among men and women: aetiological implications of associations with cardiorespiratory disease and cancer mortality. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 54(2), 97–103.Google Scholar
Spence, N. J. (2008) The long-term consequences of childbearing: physical and psychological well-being of mothers in later life. Research on Aging 30(6), 722–751.Google Scholar
Spence, N. J. & Eberstein, I. W. (2009) Age at first birth, parity, and post-reproductive mortality among white and black women in the US, 1982–2002. Social Science & Medicine 68(9), 1625–1632.Google Scholar
Stulp, G., Buunk, A. P., Verhulst, S. & Pollet, T. V. (2015) Human height is positively related to interpersonal dominance in dyadic interactions. PLoS One 10(2), e0117860.Google Scholar
Thato, S., Rachukul, S. & Sopajaree, C. (2007) Obstetrics and perinatal outcomes of Thai pregnant adolescents: a retrospective study. International Journal of Nursing Studies 44(7), 1158–1164.Google Scholar
UNICEF (2014) Srbija–Romska Naselja (Serbia-Roma Settlements). UNICEF, Beograd, Srbija. URL: http://www.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/userFiles/file/MICS/Srbija%20MICS%202014%20i%20Srbija-romska%20naselja%20MICS%202014_Srpski_web.pdf (accessed 19th January 2018).Google Scholar
Van Noordwijk, A. J. & de Jong, G. (1986) Acquisition and allocation of resources: their influence on variation in life history tactics. American Naturalist 128(1), 137–142.Google Scholar
Viallefont, A., Cooke, F. & Lebreton, J. D. (1995) Age-specific costs of first-time breeding. Auk 112(1), 67–76.Google Scholar
Waynforth, D. (2012) Life-history theory, chronic childhood illness and the timing of first reproduction in a British birth cohort. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279(1740), 2998–3002.Google Scholar
Wells, J. (2011) The thrifty phenotype: an adaptation in growth or metabolism? American Journal of Human Biology 23(1), 65–75.Google Scholar
Winkvist, A., Rasmussen, K. & Lissner, L. (2003) Associations between reproduction and maternal body weight: examining the component parts of a full reproductive cycle. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57(1), 114–127.Google Scholar
Zhang, H., Vedder, O., Becker, P. H. & Bouwhuis, S. (2015) Age‐dependent trait variation: the relative contribution of within‐individual change, selective appearance and disappearance in a long‐lived seabird. Journal of Animal Ecology 84(3), 797–807.Google Scholar
Zheng, Y., Manson, J. E., Yuan, C., Liang, M. H., Grodstein, F., Stampfer, M. J. et al. (2017) Associations of weight gain from early to middle adulthood with major health outcomes later in life. Journal of the American Medical Association 318(3), 255–269.10.1001/jama.2017.7092Google Scholar