Mothers' Marital Status and Type of Delivery Medical Care in Guatemala

• Published in: Population research and policy review Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 43 - 57
• Main Author: Wong, Po Yin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.02.2011; Springer; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Series: Population Research and Policy Review
• Subjects: Births; Child Care Services; Child delivery; Childbirth; Childbirth & labor; Children; Decisions; Demographics; Demography; Developing countries; Economic development; Education; Females; Geographic profiles; Guatemala; Health; Health and Pathology; Health care; Health care delivery; Health Care Services; Health facilities; Health services; Hospitals; Husbands; Infant mortality; International organizations; LDCs; Marital Status; Maternal & child health; Maternal mortality; Medical care; Medical service; Midwifery; Midwives; Minority & ethnic groups; Mortality; Mortality Rates; Mothers; Patient care; Population Economics; Pregnancy; Rural areas; Single status; Single women; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic status; Sociology; Women; Womens health; Guatemala; Child delivery; Demography; Health; Economic development
• ISSN: 0167-5923; 1573-7829
• DOI: 10.1007/s11113-010-9177-y

The use of modern medical care for child delivery in rural Guatemala is low relative to other Latin American countries. In the previous literature, factors such as a woman's age, education, ethnicity, religious affiliation and income are found to be important determinants of the type of delivery medical care she receives. This study hypothesizes that a woman's marital status influences her decision as well. Using a binomial logit framework, the study finds that unmarried women are more likely to see a modern medical provider in delivery than married women, even after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and husbands' characteristics. Therefore, unmarried women seem to make more informed decisions in terms of their attitudes in childbearing and maternal health relative to their married counterparts. As a result, both economic as well as social developments seem necessary to induce changes in the high incidence of maternal mortality and morbidity in Guatemala.