September 7, 2017
A study by professor Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook (Health Psychology) and her collaborators was recently featured in the New York Times. The paper, which was recently published in the journal Pediatrics, tackles the hot-button issue of why there are such dramatic racial disparities in breastfeeding rates. The study's major finding was that hospitals may be undermining breastfeeding amongst black and hispanic mothers because they are more likely to give formula to mothers from these groups than they are to white mothers. This goes against classic conceptions that the root cause of racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding arise solely because of demographic factors like education and poverty.
