Cultural values of pregnant women can influence their baby's birth weight and the risks of having asthma later, a new study says.
For the study, Cleopatra Abdou, assistant professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and colleagues, looked at 4,633 women belonging to different ethnic groups. All the participants were socioeconomically disadvantaged.
Through a questionnaire, the women's concept of familial roles and responsibilities were measured and recorded. Questions related to ability of single moms to run a family efficiently and the advantages of children of married couples were included in the questionnaire.
"We know that social support has profound health implications; yet, in this case, this is more a story of beliefs than of actual family support," Abdou said in a news release.
Surprisingly, researchers found an association between familial concepts of the women and birth weight of their children. Every one-point climb in familism was associated with a 71-gram increase in birth weight. Higher familial concept was also found lowering the children's risk of developing asthma after three years.
The average birth weight of a full-term newborn in the United States is 7.5 pounds (3,400 grams) and low birth weight is 5.5 pounds (2,500 grams).
"Cultural beliefs and ideals can be distinct from one's present reality. Familism is about beliefs and ideals within families. That's why familism is referred to as a cultural resource. The cultural resource of familism appears to favorably impact both reproductive health in mothers as well as critical markers of physical health in offspring. That is, the transmission of health from one generation to another," Abdou explained.
Findings of the study have been published online recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
