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WIC Participation and Breastfeeding after the 2009 WIC Revision: A Propensity Score Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Kelin Li

    (Department of Sociology, California State University-Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA 90747, USA)

  • Ming Wen

    (Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA)

  • Megan Reynolds

    (Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA)

  • Qi Zhang

    (School of Community and Environmental Health, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA)

Abstract

In this study, we examined the association between participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and breastfeeding outcomes before and after the 2009 revisions. Four-thousand-three-hundred-and-eight WIC-eligible children younger than 60 months were included from the 2005–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We compared two birth cohorts with regard to their associations between WIC participation and being ever-breastfed and breastfed at 6 months. We estimated the average effect of the treatment for the treated to assess the causal effect of WIC participation on breastfeeding based on propensity score matching. The results showed that WIC-eligible participating children born between 2000 and 2008 were significantly less likely than WIC-eligible nonparticipating children to ever receive breastfeeding ( p < 0.05) or to be breastfed at 6 months ( p < 0.05). Among children born between 2009 and 2014, WIC-eligible participating children were no longer less likely to ever receive breastfeeding compared to WIC-eligible nonparticipating children; the gap remained in breastfeeding at 6-months ( p < 0.05). The disparities in prevalence of ever breastfed between WIC-eligible participants and nonparticipants have been eliminated since the 2009 WIC revision. More efforts are needed to improve breastfeeding persistence among WIC-participating mother–infant dyads.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelin Li & Ming Wen & Megan Reynolds & Qi Zhang, 2019. "WIC Participation and Breastfeeding after the 2009 WIC Revision: A Propensity Score Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-12, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:15:p:2645-:d:251296
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hodges, Leslie & Toossi, Saied & Todd, Jessica E. & Ryan-Claytor, Cayley, 2024. "The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2024 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 341637, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Alyssa J. Moran & Yuxuan Gu & Sasha Clynes & Attia Goheer & Christina A. Roberto & Anne Palmer, 2020. "Associations between Governmental Policies to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Supermarket Purchases and Individual, Retailer, and Community Health Outcomes: An Integrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-23, October.

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