Low Birth Weight Linked To Discrimination Against Moms-To-Be: Study: Smoking, poor nutrition and even working late have been cited among the top reasons why babies might be born with low birth weight, but a team of researchers from Yale say healthcare isn't the only cause.
According to a study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Valerie Earnshaw and her colleagues at Yale found that racism against the more than 1,000 black and Latina girls they surveyed resulted in lower birth weight babies as well.
The contributing factor, they say, was the depression that resulted from the mothers-to-be's experience with discrimination, including being treated with less respect than other people, receiving poorer service or being called names.
