SEPARATE BLACK-AND-WHITE INFANT-MORTALITY MODELS - DIFFERENCES IN THEIMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURAL VARIABLES

In the United States, the disparity in black and white infant mortalit y persists despite reductions in overall infant mortality. In 1988, 23 of the 50 states had a black infant mortality rate that was more than twice as large as its white infant mortality rate. This study assesse s whether state-level structural variables relate differentially to st ates' black and white infant mortality rates. With the state as the un it of analysis, separate black (N = 34) and white (N = 50) multivariat e models of infant mortality were produced and compared. The structura l variables accounted for 57.7% of the variance in states' black infan t mortality rates and 35.2% of the variance in states' white infant mo rtality rates. Proportion black, percent with bachelor's degree or hig her, percent below poverty, and the index of dissimilarity each made a unique contribution to the black infant mortality model. Percent with bachelor's degree or higher was the only measure that made a signific ant unique contribution to the white infant mortality model. Thus, alt hough both black and white infant mortality rates were higher in state s with smaller percentages of the population having a bachelor's degre e or higher, black infant mortality rates were also higher in states w here proportionately more black persons lived, where there were higher levels of residential segregation in the urban areas, and, contrary t o what was expected, where smaller percentages of the population lived below the poverty level. This study supports the need for race-specif ic models of infant mortality.