MATERNAL AGE AND BIRTH OUTCOMES - DATA FROM NEW-JERSEY

The effects of maternal age on low birth weight, newborns' hospital co sts and infant mortality were estimated based on individual 1989 and 1 990 vital statistics records from New Jersey that were linked with uni form billing hospital discharge records. Results of multivariate analy ses show a U-shaped relationship between maternal age and low birth we ight among whites with the youngest (younger than 15) and oldest (aged 40 and older) mothers being at higher risk than 25-29-year-olds; olde r teenagers were not at any significantly increased risk. Among blacks , however, 15-19-year-olds faced significantly lower risks of deliveri ng low-birth-weight babies than did black women aged 25-29. Both black and white mothers in their 30s were significantly more likely to deli ver a low-birth-weight baby than women aged 25-29 of the same race. Th e multivariate analysis also showed that newborn hospitalization costs increased with maternal age among both blacks and whites. The seeming ly poorer birth outcomes of teenage mothers appear to result largely f rom their adverse socioeconomic circumstances, not from young maternal age per se.