Biomedical Influences on Second Births

Øystein Kravdal , Norwegian Institute of Public health
Emily Grundy, Essex University
Rannveig Hart, University of Oslo

We examined how several biomedical and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with mothers’ probability of having a second child and the timing of this birth. Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and linked registers were used. Mothers who had certain pregnancy-related health problems during the first pregnancy, or other mental or physical health problems before or shortly after the first birth, were less likely than others to have a second child – net of differences in relationship status, education and economic resources. The same was the case if the first child had colic or poor sleeping patterns. Fecundity problems before the first birth and delivery by caesarean section were also associated with a reduced probability of a second birth. Some other health problems in the pregnancy and factors related to the delivery, plus a preterm/low-birth-weight first child, were associated with a slower transition to parity two, but not with the probability of ever making that transition. The biomedical variables considered contributed in total far less to the variation in the second-birth probability than the sociodemographic variables. Nevertheless, these results suggest that it may be useful to pay more attention to biomedical influences on fertility in future studies.

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 Presented in Session 1. Flash Session Fertility and Health