The use of C-section to deliver babies has tended to go up over time and has generated some concern. It is, after all, a significant operation and can have negative consequences. For example mothers are less likely to breastfeed after a C-section.
It is sometimes argued that mothers elect to have C-sections as they are “too posh to push”. Leaving aside the question of whether this is a good or bad thing: is it actually true? Using the Growing Up in Ireland data I estimate some simple probit models predicting the probability of elective and emergency c-sections. Household income (equivalised & in log form) is positively associated with having a C-section. But the coefficient for emergency c-section is almost twice as big as that of elective. This doesn’t fit in with a simple story of affluent mothers choosing to have c-section. I have no idea why income would have such an effect on emergency C-sections.
Mother’s education, interestingly, seems to have no effect (& remember education is generally seen as a better measure of socio-economic status than income) nor does a measure of social class (not shown here) nor does whether the mother smoke or drank during pregnancy. Factors that do predict a c-section include the mother’s BMI and her age (for the elective case) and the baby’s birth-weight (for the emergency case). Clearly many other factors may influence these outcomes & not all of which are in this data.
So while there is clearly a connection between how well-off a mother is and whether she delivers via a C-section its not at all clear that it is a simple case of "money talks".
|
| (1) | (2) |
|
| elective | emergency |
| log income | 0.0168* | 0.0292*** |
|
| (2.41) | (3.96) |
|
|
|
|
| mother's educ
| -0.00209 | 0.00246 |
|
| (0.73) | (0.81) |
|
|
|
|
| birthweight | -0.0101 | -0.0322*** |
|
| (1.77) | (5.20) |
|
|
|
|
| born on time | 0.0693*** | -0.0590*** |
|
| (8.73) | (6.58) |
|
|
|
|
| " early | 0.193*** | -0.00267 |
|
| (7.86) | (0.23) |
|
|
|
|
| " very early | 0.126* | 0.214*** |
|
| (2.44) | (4.26) |
|
|
|
|
| partner
| 0.0186 | -0.0114 |
|
| (1.82) | (0.96) |
|
|
|
|
| girl | -0.00154 | -0.0202** |
|
| (0.24) | (2.95) |
|
|
|
|
| Mothers BMI | 0.00346*** | 0.00427*** |
|
| (5.32) | (6.22) |
|
|
|
|
| " smoke | -0.00852 | -0.00414 |
|
| (1.62) | (0.78) |
|
|
|
|
| " drink | -0.0121 | -0.00234 |
|
| (1.93) | (0.35) |
|
|
|
|
| Age | 0.00565*** | -0.000325 |
|
| (8.71) | (0.48) |
| N | 7020 | 7020 |
| pseudo R2 | 0.065 | 0.055 |
Marginal effects; Absolute t statistics in parentheses
* p<0.05,**p<.01,***p<.001
