Of the 1,551 birth included in this investigation 34, or 2.2 per cent., occurred out of wedlock. Nine of the 32 illegitimate babies who were born alive died during their first year. It is recognized that these figures are a very small base from which to draw conclusions concerning the effect of illegitimacy on the infant mortality rate. It is of interest, nevertheless, to note that the findings for this small group are similar to those of countries which compute an infant mortality rate for legitimate and illegitimate children separately, that is, a rate for illegitimates more than twice as high as for children born in wedlock.
| Table 34.—Distribution of Births and of Deaths During First Year, and Infant Mortality Rate, According to Legitimacy. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LEGITIMACY. | Total births. | Live births. | DEATHS DURING FIRST YEAR. | |
| Number. | Infant mortality rates. | |||
| Illegitimate | 34 | 32 | 9 | 281.3 |
| Legitimate | 1,517 | 1,431 | 187 | 130.7 |
Thirty-two, or 3.7 per cent., of the 860 native mothers, as compared with 2, or 0.3 per cent., of the 691 foreign mothers visited, had illegitimate children in 1911.
REPRODUCTIVE HISTORIES
In addition to the data relating exclusively to babies born in 1911, a statement was secured from each mother as to the number and duration of each of her pregnancies and the result thereof; that is, the number of children she had borne, alive or dead, the number of miscarriages she had had, and the age at death of each live-born child who had died. Although this information was secured for all mothers, tabulations are presented of the data furnished by married mothers only. Comparatively few single mothers reported more than one child, and information from them on this point is not believed to be as reliable as that from married mothers.
The 1,491 married mothers of babies born in 1911 had had an aggregate of 5,554 pregnancies, resulting in 5,617 births, the excess of 63 births over pregnancies being due to plural births. Eight hundred and four of these children died under 1 year of age, making an infant mortality rate of 149.9 for all their babies, as compared with the rate of 134 for those born in 1911. The stillbirths of these women numbered 194, or 4.5 per cent. of the total number of births; miscarriages reported numbered 191, but these were not added to the total reportable[[36]] pregnancies.
[36]. “Reportable” pregnancies are those terminating either in the birth of a live child or of a dead child when the period of gestation exceeds 28 weeks; that is, when its registration or report is required by law.
Details as to the infant mortality rates for all babies born to native and foreign mothers included in this study, not only in the year 1911 but at any other time, are presented in the next table, which classifies the babies according to the total number of reportable pregnancies that their mothers had had, to and including the pregnancy resulting in the 1911 birth.
| Table 35.—Distribution of Mothers, of Live Births, and of Deaths During First Year, and Infant Mortality Rate for Babies of Native and Foreign Married Mothers, According to the Number of Reportable Pregnancies. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REPORTABLE PREGNANCIES FOR MARRIED MOTHERS. | Number of married mothers. | NUMBER OF BABIES. | INFANT MORTALITY RATE AMONG BABIES OF— | |||
| Born alive. | Died in first year. | All mothers. | Native mothers. | Foreign mothers. | ||
| Total | 1,491 | 5,363 | 804 | 149.9 | 113.1 | 184.6 |
| 1 | 339 | 322 | 35 | 108.7 | 75.9 | 183.7 |
| 2 | 283 | 544 | 59 | 108.5 | 76.5 | 156.7 |
| 3 | 214 | 626 | 92 | 147.0 | 118.0 | 177.6 |
| 4 | 186 | 723 | 78 | 107.9 | 99.4 | 116.3 |
| 5 | 147 | 704 | 103 | 146.3 | 86.1 | 191.5 |
| 6 | 94 | 546 | 88 | 161.2 | 157.4 | 163.6 |
| 7 | 83 | 555 | 78 | 140.5 | 100.0 | 173.8 |
| 8 | 54 | 426 | 95 | 223.0 | 157.6 | 272.7 |
| 9 | 33 | 283 | 41 | 144.9 | 128.4 | 155.2 |
| 10 or more | 58 | 634 | 135 | 212.9 | 164.5 | 257.6 |
The statistics, based upon the results of all her reportable pregnancies, show a generally higher infant mortality rate where the mother has had many pregnancies, but there is not always an increase from one pregnancy to the next. This is more clearly shown when the pregnancies are grouped as in the next table.