Health of Mothers of Young Children in Canada: Identifying Dimensions of Inequality Based on Socio-Economic Position, Partnership Status, Race, and Region

Health of Mothers of Young Children in Canada: Identifying Dimensions of Inequality Based on Socio-Economic Position, Partnership Status, Race, and Region

Health of Mothers of Young Children in Canada: Identifying Dimensions of Inequality Based on Socio-Economic Position, Partnership Status, Race, and Region

Health of Mothers of Young Children in Canada: Identifying Dimensions of Inequality Based on Socio-Economic Position, Partnership Status, Race, and Regions

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Référence bibliographique [20674]

Brennenstuhl, Sarah. 2018. «Health of Mothers of Young Children in Canada: Identifying Dimensions of Inequality Based on Socio-Economic Position, Partnership Status, Race, and Region ». Revue canadienne de santé publique / Canadian Journal of Public Health, vol. 109, no 1, p. 27-34.

Fiche synthèse

1. Objectifs


Intentions :
«The purpose of this study […] is to identify dimensions of inequalities in health among mothers of young children in Canada based on SEP [socio-economic position], race, partner status, and region and determine whether they are independent of one another.» (p. 28)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«It was hypothesized that being single, identifying as a person of colour, and/or having a low education level will be risk factors for poor health among mothers of young children, while higher income and living in Québec, a proxy for welfare state generosity, will protect against poor health.» (p. 28)

2. Méthode


Échantillon/Matériau :
«Data were derived from the public use version of the 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CCHS is a cross-sectional survey designed to address health status, health care utilization, and health determinants of the Canadian population aged 12 years and older and can provide reliable estimates at the health region level […].» (p. 29) «A total of 2656 mothers of young children were included in the sample.» (p. 30)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé


«[T]his research provides preliminary evidence that health inequalities exist among mothers of young children in Canada by income, race, and partnership status, and that living in Québec appears to protect against poor health. The identification of these structurally-based inequalities has important policy implications.» (p. 33) «On the other hand, mothers living in regions providing more generous social policy contexts (i.e., Québec) appear to be protected from poorer health, providing preliminary evidence that social policies, such as universal access to affordable daycare and generous parental leaves, may help to mitigate the health risks precipitated by maternal caregiving. […] The finding that mothers in Québec have lower odds of poor health than those in the rest of Canada, while preliminary, is consistent with this small literature in showing health variation by welfare regime. Interestingly, all of the dimensions of inequality (i.e., SEP, race, and partnership status) remained significant when region was included in the model, suggesting that while region (the proxy for welfare state generosity) may relate to overall health status, it does not necessarily account for health inequalities. This finding is consistent with the extant literature, which shows that the magnitude of health inequalities does not always correlate with welfare state generosity […].» (p. 31)