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SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF BREASTFEEDING: A MIXED METHODS ANALYSIS OF THE BREASTFEEDING VIEWS OF EXPECTANT MOTHERS AND FATHERS IN THE US EXPOSED TO ADVERSITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2018

Carolyn J. Dayton Open the ORCID record for Carolyn J. Dayton [Opens in a new window] ,
Angela Johnson ,
Laurel M. Hicks ,
Jessica Goletz ,
Suzanne Brown ,
Trazell Primuse ,
Kiddada Green ,
Myung Ae Nordin ,
Robert Welch  and
Maria Muzik
Carolyn J. Dayton*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, US
Angela Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
Laurel M. Hicks
Affiliation:
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, US
Jessica Goletz
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, US
Suzanne Brown
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, US
Trazell Primuse
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, US
Kiddada Green
Affiliation:
Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association, Detroit, Michigan, US
Myung Ae Nordin
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, US
Robert Welch
Affiliation:
Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, US
Maria Muzik
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Despite the significant health benefits of breastfeeding for the mother and the infant, economic class and race disparities in breastfeeding rates persist. Support for breastfeeding from the father of the infant is associated with higher rates of breastfeeding initiation. However, little is known about the factors that may promote or deter father support of breastfeeding, especially in fathers exposed to contextual adversity such as poverty and violence. Using a mixed methods approach, the primary aims of the current work were to (1) elicit, using qualitative methodology, the worries, barriers and promotive factors for breastfeeding that expectant mothers and fathers identify as they prepare to parent a new infant, and (2) to examine factors that influence the parental breastfeeding intentions of both mothers and fathers using quantitative methodology. A sample (N=95) of expectant, third trimester mothers and fathers living in a low-income, urban environment in Midwestern USA, were interviewed from October 2013 to February 2015 about their infant feeding intentions. Compared with fathers, mothers more often identified the benefits of breastfeeding for the infant’s health and the economic advantage of breastfeeding. Mothers also identified more personal and community breastfeeding support resources. Fathers viewed their own support of breastfeeding as important but expressed a lack of knowledge about the breastfeeding process and often excluded themselves from discussions about infant feeding. The results point to important targets for interventions that aim to increase breastfeeding initiation rates in vulnerable populations in the US by increasing father support for breastfeeding.

Keywords

BreastfeedingFathersPrenatal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 374 - 393
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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