Purpose: The importance of breastfeeding is well known. Socioeconomic status is one of the factors affecting breastfeeding. We investigated the association between breastfeeding and parental socioeconomic status to help design future breastfeeding promotion projects.Methods: Data on demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status of parents of 1,220 children aged under 60months were extracted from the 2013–2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Results: Some socioeconomic factors were associated with breastfeeding. Maternal factors such as education level (≥13 years: odds ratio [OR], 2.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21–6.42), middle high income level (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.18–4.49), no smoking status (OR, 3.07; 95% CI, 1.28–7.36) and body mass index (BMI) (<25 kg/m² : OR, 1.82; 95%CI, 1.12–2.95) were associated with breastfeeding (p<0.05). In addition, paternal factors such as age (30s: OR, 4.88; 95%CI, 1.82–13.04) and education level (≥13 years: OR, 7.94; 95% CI, 3.12–20.18) were associated with breastfeeding (p<0.05). After controlling for confounding factors, mother’s BMI, father’s age, and father’s educational level were found to be statistically significant predictors of breastfeeding.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that some parental socioeconomic factors were associated with breastfeeding in Korea.

Background: The importance of breastfeeding is well known. One of important factors affecting breastfeeding is socioeconomic status. We investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status and breastfeeding to promote future breastfeeding projects. Methods: Data were collected from the 2013 - 2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). We evaluated the demographic information and parents’ socioeconomic status of 1,220 children under 60months.Results: A total 1,220 children were included in this study. Some of the socioeconomic factors were associated with breastfeeding. Mothers’ education level (≥13years: odd ratio[OR], 2.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21-6.42), middle high of mother’s income level (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.18-2.84), no smoking status (OR, 3.07; 95% CI, 1.28-7.36), body mass index(BMI) (< 25(kg/m 2 ): OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.12-2.95) were associated with breastfeeding (p<0.05). Also, fathers’ age (30s: OR, 4.88; 95% CI, 1.82-13.04), education level(≥13years: OR, 7.94; 95% CI, 3.12-20.18) were associated with breastfeeding (p<0.05). After controlling for the confounding factors, mothers’ BMI, fathers’ age and educational level were statistically significant.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that socioeconomic factors were associated with breastfeeding in Korea. Keywords : Breastfeeding, Parental, Socioeconomic status, Korea