Health of mothers of young children in Canada: identifying dimensions of inequality based on socio-economic position, partnership status, race, and region

Sarah Brennenstuhl

Little is known about the nature of health inequalities present among women who are mothers of young children in Canada. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify dimensions of inequalities based on socio-economic position, race, partner status, and region and determine whether each type of inequality is independent of another. Data are from the 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey. Women identifying as a parent living with a child ≤ 5 years, with complete data on the variables of interest, were selected (n = 2656). Poor health was defined as the presence of two or more chronic conditions. Exposures included partner status, education level, race, income, and region (Québec vs. rest of Canada). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of poor health according to each exposure unadjusted and adjusted for all other exposures. All analyses controlled for age and employment status. In the fully adjusted model, among mothers of young children, the odds of poor health were significantly higher among non-white identifying (OR = 1.72; 95% CI = 1.34-2.21) and lone mothers (OR = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.35-2.39), but were significantly lower among those with higher incomes (OR[per decile] = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.82-0.90) and those from Québec (vs. the rest of Canada; OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.38-0.67). Living in Québec compared to elsewhere in Canada appears to protect against poor health among mothers of young children. Regardless of region, health inequalities exist by socio-economic position, race, and partnership status. These findings have implications for public health programs and policies, such as universal child care.