BIRTHING OPTIONS AND LIFE CHANCES: HOW DO LIFE CHANCES SHAPE WOMEN’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS DIFFERENT BIRTHING OPTIONS?

Abstract

Childbirth options for American women have followed at least two very distinct transitions over the past century. In the first transition, the field of obstetrics emerged within the medical profession to gain prestige and discredit former forms of childbirth practices such as natural delivery, home births, and midwifery. After this transition, women had few choices regarding childbirth other than medicalized options. Today, a second transition is evident—some women are seeking more natural and traditional alternatives rather than the stark strictly medical interventions of pregnancy and childbirth. Using survey data from a convenience sample of 113 women ages 18 or older, the present study examined women’s birthing decisions. More specifically, I explored how women choose medical or alternative options. I framed the study with Cockerham’s theory of health lifestyles, which argues that life chances (i.e., structural variables) impact life choices, including the ways women make decisions regarding childbirth. Cross-tabulations and chi square tests, revealed two statistically significant relationships between life chances and preferences for childbirth. First, women who perceived their diets as healthy were more likely to favor alternative options over medical options. In addition, women in non-southern regions of the U.S. were more likely to favor alternative birthing options. However, upon further analysis, regardless of healthy or non-healthy diets, women in southern regions of the U.S. favored medical birthing options over alternative options. Both of these associations could be explained by additional variables such as lack of resources, knowledge, and traditional belief systems.