Self-Rated Health and Teenage Pregnancies in Roma Women: Increasing Height Is Associated With Better Health Outcomes

Abstract

SummaryThis paper reports on the association between early marriage, age at first reproduction and height, as an indicator of childhood environment, and maternal health outcomes among traditional Roma women in Serbia. Demographic data, marital and reproductive histories, height, weight and self-rated health were collected from 414 Roma women living in rural settlements in Serbia in 2015-2017. Data analysis showed that higher age and weight were associated with a greater risk of poor health, greater height contributed to reduced risk of poor health while reproductive variables were insignificant. The study provides evidence that the long-term effects of early childbearing may not always be associated with poorer health status. As indicated by the differences in height, it is likely that women who were capable of reproducing very early on and staying healthy in later life were probably very healthy to begin with. The results probably reflect both the biological and social differences of early childhood. Aside from height, the traditional Roma marriage pattern and social benefits may have an additional protective effect on the health of women.

Maternal age at marriage and child nutritional status and development: evidence from Serbian Roma communities

“…These cut-off points were chosen based on the sample characteristics (i.e. the earliest age at first marriage was 10) and previous studies (16,38) . Chi-square, ANOVA and Tukey HSD tests and effect size were used to assess the differences in demographic and child outcomes between Roma mothers in the different marriage groups.…”

Stature and education among Roma women: taller stature is associated with better educational and economic outcomes

“…(1 = not at all; 2 = a little; 3 = somewhat; 4 = quite a bit; and 5 = a lot). Covariates were self-reported and selected based on previous stuidies (Hotchkiss et al, 2016;Čvorović, 2018;Čvorović, 2019).…”

The Effect of Physical and Mental Health and Health Behavior on the Self-Rated Health of Pregnant Women

“…These different results are thought to be due to the research being conducted in different environments. In addition, some studies have shown that the first birth age [ 1 ] or the number of births [ 1 , 26 ] does not affect the SRH of pregnant women. Considering this, further research is required in the future, not only in the whole population but also in various groups.…”

“…Childbirth can cause long-lasting health problems for women as they need to adapt to physiological processes and a new environment as a mother [ 1 ]. In addition, the importance of women’s health is emphasized in that the risk factors exposed to pregnant women are directly related to the health of the fetus and that the health of the mother affects the newborn and the rest of the family [ 2 , 3 ].…”