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Does breastfeeding contribute to the racial gap in reading and math test scores?

Kristen E Peters1, Jin Huang, Michael G Vaughn

  • 1School of Social Work, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO.

Annals of Epidemiology
|July 25, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Breastfeeding significantly narrows the achievement gap between racial groups. Promoting breastfeeding among African American mothers could reduce disparities in reading and math scores.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Public Health
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • A persistent achievement test gap exists between Caucasian and African American children.
  • Breastfeeding practices differ between racial groups, potentially influencing cognitive development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how breastfeeding practices impact the achievement test gap between Caucasian and African American children.
  • To quantify the effect of breastfeeding on racial disparities in educational outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS).
  • Analyzed reading and math test scores of 1928 children (aged 0-12) linked with breastfeeding history.
  • Employed regression analysis, controlling for child, mother, and household characteristics.

Main Results:

  • African American students scored 10.6 and 10.9 points lower than Caucasian students in reading and math, respectively.
  • Breastfeeding accounted for a 17% reduction in the reading score gap and a 9% reduction in the math score gap.
  • The impact of breastfeeding on test scores was significant after controlling for confounding variables.

Conclusions:

  • Breastfeeding explains a substantial portion of the racial achievement gap in educational outcomes.
  • Policies and clinical practices promoting breastfeeding for African American mothers are crucial.
  • Breastfeeding interventions may be more effective than some educational policy interventions in closing achievement gaps.
Abstract

Keywords:
Academic achievementBreastfeedingChild development

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