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Title: Breast Is Best: Estimating the Long-term Consequences of Breastfeeding for Childhood Wellbeing Using Sister Comparisons
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Colen, Cynthia G.
Ramey, David
Breast Is Best: Estimating the Long-term Consequences of Breastfeeding for Childhood Wellbeing Using Sister Comparisons
Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2012
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Breastfeeding; CESD (Depression Scale); Child Health; Depression (see also CESD); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pre/post Natal Behavior; Siblings; Sisters

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Since the 1970s, breastfeeding has witnessed a resurgence. Besides being economical, it is thought that breast milk contributes to beneficial health outcomes during the perinatal period and for many years to come. However, empirical evidence concerning long-term effects of breastfeeding on childhood wellbeing remains unclear. This is primarily a function of the fact that, on average, breastfed children are different from their bottle-fed counterparts along several demographic dimensions. The overarching objective of this study is to estimate the extent to which breastfeeding influences the health trajectories of children in the United States. We rely on a multipronged analytic strategy that includes growth curve models, propensity score matching, and sibling comparisons. Each approach offers a more rigorous test of the hypothesis that breastfeeding contributes to enduring positive childhood outcomes by more closely approximating the counterfactual question – what would the health of this infant be like if he/she had not been breastfed.
Bibliography Citation
Colen, Cynthia G. and David Ramey. "Breast Is Best: Estimating the Long-term Consequences of Breastfeeding for Childhood Wellbeing Using Sister Comparisons." Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2012.