VIOgechi Vinaprisca IkhuoriaResearch portfolio All projects

Population health trends · United States

Maternal Nativity Differences in Repeat Childbearing, Prenatal Care Initiation, and Birthweight Among Black Adolescents in the United States, 2018–2024

A population-based study of how repeat birth, prenatal-care initiation, and birthweight trends differed by maternal nativity from 2018 to 2024.

Period
2026
Role
Lead author and analyst on a collaborative study
Context
2018–2024 National Vital Statistics System natality files

01 / The work

Following the evidence from question to use.

This collaborative research project examines reproductive and maternal-health trends among U.S.-resident, non-Hispanic Black adolescent mothers. By separating annual patterns for mothers born in and outside the United States, the study considers whether changes over time were shared across both groups or concealed important differences.

Research question

Did trends in repeat birth, prenatal-care initiation, and birthweight differ by maternal nativity among non-Hispanic Black mothers aged 15–19 between 2018 and 2024?

Approach

  1. 01Repeated cross-sectional analysis of singleton births to U.S.-resident, non-Hispanic Black mothers aged 15–19
  2. 02Multivariable binary logistic regression for repeat birth
  3. 03Multinomial logistic regression for prenatal-care initiation and linear regression for birthweight
  4. 04Year-by-nativity interaction testing with adjustment for maternal age, education, delivery payment source, and previous pregnancies not ending in live birth
NVSS dataSASTemporal trendsLogistic regressionMultinomial regressionLinear regression

02 / Evidence

What the work contributes.

218K+birth records in the study cohort
7 yearsannual trends examined
3maternal outcomes modeled
  • 01

    Repeat-birth trends differed by nativity. U.S.-born mothers had lower adjusted odds of repeat birth in 2024 than in 2018 (aOR 0.82; 95% CI 0.78–0.86).

  • 02

    Prenatal-care trends also differed by nativity. In 2024, mothers born outside the United States had higher adjusted odds of third- versus first-trimester initiation compared with U.S.-born mothers (aOR 4.01; 95% CI 3.28–4.89).

  • 03

    Birthweight trends did not differ significantly by maternal nativity.

  • 04

    The findings show why Black adolescent maternal-health patterns should be examined across both time and nativity rather than treated as uniform.

03 / Outputs

Materials and next steps.

Population Association of America abstractSubmitted for conference consideration · September 2026Documented
Full paperIn developmentDocumented

Continue exploring

QuantitativeContraceptive continuity in NigeriaQualitativeReproHEAL: Black women’s care experiences