TY - JOUR
T1 - Infant mortality in Ottawa, Canada, 1901
T2 - Assessing cultural, economic and environmental factors
AU - Mercier, Michael E.
AU - Boone, Christopher G.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to a number of colleagues for their comments and suggestions in the development and final stages of this work. In particular, the guidance by John Clarke (Carleton University), Richard Harris (McMaster University), Sherry Olson (McGill University) and Patricia Thornton (Concordia University) was especially helpful. The staff at the Ottawa city archives were generous with their time, and provided important access to the mortality data. We thank the students from the Graduate Seminar in Historical Geography at Carleton University (1996) who helped collect the mortality data. We would also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of various institutions, in particular the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Specific comments on an earlier draft by the anonymous referees were very helpful.
PY - 2002/10
Y1 - 2002/10
N2 - Infant mortality is widely recognized as an indicator of poor living conditions. Scholars have identified economic, housing, environmental, and more recently, cultural determinants of infant mortality. Using individual-level data and record linkage this paper documents and explains the geography of infant mortality in Ottawa in 1901. Infant death in Ottawa mirrored the geography of poor living conditions in the city. The poorest and most densely settled community in Ottawa was Lowertown, a mostly French-Canadian part of the city with a disproportionate share of the city's infant deaths. In addition to environmental factors, infant mortality was linked to economic standing. Poorer families in Lowertown were more likely to have one of their infants die than better off families. After controlling for economic standing, however, cultural factors were stronger predictors of infant deaths. French-Canadian families in Lowertown had a greater risk of infant deaths than did families of other backgrounds irrespective of material circumstances. Supporting conclusions drawn elsewhere, this paper suggests that the interaction of particular cultural practices, such as shorter periods of breast-feeding among French-Canadians and a poor sanitary environment, resulted in high infant mortality rates in Ottawa.
AB - Infant mortality is widely recognized as an indicator of poor living conditions. Scholars have identified economic, housing, environmental, and more recently, cultural determinants of infant mortality. Using individual-level data and record linkage this paper documents and explains the geography of infant mortality in Ottawa in 1901. Infant death in Ottawa mirrored the geography of poor living conditions in the city. The poorest and most densely settled community in Ottawa was Lowertown, a mostly French-Canadian part of the city with a disproportionate share of the city's infant deaths. In addition to environmental factors, infant mortality was linked to economic standing. Poorer families in Lowertown were more likely to have one of their infants die than better off families. After controlling for economic standing, however, cultural factors were stronger predictors of infant deaths. French-Canadian families in Lowertown had a greater risk of infant deaths than did families of other backgrounds irrespective of material circumstances. Supporting conclusions drawn elsewhere, this paper suggests that the interaction of particular cultural practices, such as shorter periods of breast-feeding among French-Canadians and a poor sanitary environment, resulted in high infant mortality rates in Ottawa.
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U2 - 10.1006/jhge.2002.0442
DO - 10.1006/jhge.2002.0442
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036820086
SN - 0305-7488
VL - 28
SP - 486
EP - 507
JO - Journal of Historical Geography
JF - Journal of Historical Geography
IS - 4
ER -