RISK-FACTORS FOR INFANT-MORTALITY IN 19TH-CENTURY SWEDEN

This study examines risk factors for infant mortality using individual -level data from a sample of parishes in northern Sweden in the ninete enth century. Sweden is of particular interest because of its unusuall y regular pattern of infant mortality decline during the century. We f ollow a sample of women longitudinally through their successive pregna ncies and observe the mortality experience of each child. Exploratory and multivariate logistic regression analyses reveal an important intr a-familial dimension to infant mortality that appears from the early s tages of a woman's reproductive career. In addition, multivariate anal yses by birth-order group suggest that ignoring intrafamilial correlat ions of infant mortality may result in incorrect inferences. Siblings' shared probabilities of dying as infants suggest that high-birth-orde r children were not necessarily disadvantaged in any systematic way.