Preterm births and low-birth weight among adolescents in the San Joaquin Valley: Testing the double jeopardy hypothesis

This study applied the double jeopardy hypothesis, which posits there are health disparities for race/ethnicity and age, to secondary data from the California Birth Statistical Master Files (2002-2004) to investigate the effects of age and race/ethnicity on adverse birth outcomes among adolescents and women in the San Joaquin Valley, controlling for prenatal care and insurance type. Logistic regressions were run using preterm births and low-birth weight as dependent variables with age, race/ethnicity, prenatal care, and insurance type as independent variables. There were 120,989 participants aged 11-29, representing 11.5% of preterm births and 6.2% of low-birth weight infants. The first double jeopardy hypothesis was accepted; minorities, adolescents, and women aged 19-24 were more likely to have preterm births and infants of low-birth weight. The second double jeopardy hypothesis was rejected because there was no significance for low-birth weight among minority adolescents and Hispanics aged 15-18 had significantly fewer preterm births. However, when controlling for prenatal care and insurance type, Hispanics aged 15-18 were no longer significant. Additionally, Black women aged 19-24 who received inadequate prenatal care had significantly more infants of low-birth weight. These findings suggest adolescents in the San Joaquin Valley are not a greater risk for adverse birth outcomes.