Infant feeding attitudes and breastfeeding intentions of black college students

Breastfeeding rates are lowest among Black women than women of other races. An understanding of infant feeding attitudes may help improve breastfeeding rates among Black women. The theory of planned behavior guided this study to explore infant feeding attitudes of Black college students and the contribution of attitudes to breastfeeding intentions after controlling for age, gender, income, and education level. A sample of 348 Black college students below 45 years old with no children and no history of pregnancies were recruited for this study. The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale and a Demographic Questionnaire were used to collect data. Participants agreed that breast milk is the ideal food for infants and 48% indicated high probability of breastfeeding intentions. Infant feeding attitudes also explained approximately 30% (Nagelkerke R (2)) of the variance in breastfeeding intentions. Therefore, breastfeeding interventions targeting Black women should focus on improving breastfeeding attitudes.