Paternal Education and Infant Health: Variation by Race/Ethnicity.

In the USA, efforts to improve unequal infant health outcomes require knowledge about how the relationship between education and infant health varies by parental gender and race/ethnicity. Drawing from a pooled random sample of over 1 million live births from the 2011 to 2017 National Vital Statistics System data, we examine the relationship between maternal and paternal education and infant health and assess how it varies by maternal racial and ethnic background. The model fit statistics suggest that the relationship between paternal education and infant health is about equal to maternal education and infant health. However, we find a weaker relationship overall between parental education and infant health among Asian and Hispanic fathers than Whites, American Indian, and Black fathers. Black fathers' education is more strongly associated with infant health than that of Black mothers. At some levels, paternal education is also more strongly related to health among Hispanic infants. The results suggest a greater focus on fathers' contributions to infant health is warranted, and programs or policies that focus on fathers could help address racial and ethnic infant health disparities.