The Young Mother 



395 



and dangers of the first four years 

 depends quite directly on the age of 

 its mother. The death rate for children 

 of the oldest group of mothers is about 

 50% greater than that of the children 

 of young mothers. 



The mothers under 20 years of age 

 appear to form an exception. At first 

 sight, the higher death rate of their 

 children seems to indicate clearly that 

 too early maternity is a disadvantage. 

 Without denying this possibility there 

 are several considerations which make it 

 seem probable that these youngest 

 mothers form an exception more appar- 

 ent than real to the general biological 

 rule: the younger the mother, the 

 better the child's chance. It is possible 

 that the higher death rate in the 

 children of this group is partly due to 

 the juvenility and inexperience of the 

 mothers, and not to their physical 

 unfitness for marriage. This explana- 

 tion cannot be pushed any farther, as 

 has sometimes been done, to claim that 

 all infantile mortality depends more 

 on the intelligence and training of the 

 mother than on her age; for in such a 

 case the death rate ought to be lower 

 with each added year of the mother's 

 age — a supposition exactly contrary to 

 fact. The higher death rate in this 

 first group may also be due in part to 

 the fact that the children involved are 

 practically all first-born, for whom the 

 death rate is well-known to be higher 

 than for those who immediately follow 

 them. In the other groups of mothers, 

 the first-born children are swamped by 

 the later-born, and the effect of their 

 presence is not so evident as for the 

 group of mothers 15-19, practically all 

 of whose children must be first-born. 

 This is a biological matter, but not one 

 which offers any reason for postponing 

 maternity; since if a woman is going to 

 have children at all, one of them must be 

 first-born. 



If these two suppositions are well 

 founded, then the death rate of children 



born to mothers 15-19 does not neces- 

 sarily prove, at least to such an extent 

 as one might think, that the mothers 

 were physiologically too young when 

 they married. 



The other facts in the table are self- 

 explanatory. While the evidence can- 

 not be considered wholly satisfactory, 

 until data are available which take 

 account of the order of birth of the 

 children, and the intervals between 

 births, as well as the age of the mother 

 at birth, yet the general conclusion to 

 be drawn is clear. The children of 

 young mothers have the greatest vital- 

 ity, and every added year of the mother's 

 life is a handicap to her next child. 



Table II 



Mortality Rate per 1,000 Births among Infants 

 Included in Three Investigations, Classified 

 According to the Age of Their Mothers 



Boston {Mass.) Investigation 



Infant 

 Number mortality 

 Age of the mother of births rate 



AUages 2,025 125 



Under 21 years 145 90 



21 to 25 years 559 109 



26 to 30 years 573 131 



31 to 35 years 440 132 



36 to 40 years 241 149 



Over 40 years 67 164 



Fall River {Mass.) Investigation 



All ages 746 202 



Under 20 years 29 103 



20 to 29 years 386 189 



30 to 39 years 257 206 



40 and over 36 222 



Unknown 38 ... 



Johnstown {Pa.) Investigation 



All ages 1,463 134 



Under 20 years 95 137 



20 to 24 years 454 121 



25 to 29 years 391 143 



30 to 39 years 449 136 



40 years and over 74 149 



There is plenty of confirmatory evi- 

 dence. Three studies of infant mortality 

 in America'* are presented in Table II. 

 For comparison with Table I, it should 

 be noted that these tables deal only with 

 the first vear of the child's life, while 



'' The Boston study was made by Hibbs and others of the Boston School for Social Workers, 

 in 1910-12, and is quoted from Hibbs, Henry H., Jr., Infant Mortality. New York, Russell Sage 

 Foundation, 1916. The other two tables are cited from Hibbs after: 



Dublin, Louis I. Infant Mortality in Fall River, Massachusetts. Quarterly Ptiblications of 

 the American Statistical Association, n. s.. No. 110, June 1915. 



U. S. Children's Bureau. Infant Mortality: Johnsontown, Pa. Washington, 1915. 



