title: Post-partum Residential Mobility Among a Statewide Representative Sample of California Women, 2003-2007.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Researchers often examine neighborhood socioeconomic environment and health during the perinatal period using geocoded addresses recorded on birth certificates at the time of delivery. Our objective was to assess the potential for post-partum neighborhood misclassification by examining whether women move neighborhoods during the immediate post-partum period, whether they move to neighborhoods of different socioeconomic status (SES), and whether mobility differs by maternal characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the 2003-2007 California Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (MIHA), an annual, statewide-representative survey of post-partum women, to examine women's neighborhood mobility patterns between giving birth and completing a survey 2-7 months post-partum. We examined whether women changed neighborhoods, whether moves were to neighborhoods of higher, lower, or similar socioeconomic status (SES), and whether these patterns differed by maternal race/ethnicity, maternal SES, or other demographic characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 93% of women either did not move neighborhoods or moved to a neighborhood of similar SES post-partum. Only 4% of women moved to a neighborhood of lower SES and 3% to an area of higher SES. Mothers who were non-Hispanic black or US-born Hispanic, young, unmarried, primiparous, or lower SES were slightly more likely to move overall and more likely to move to neighborhoods with different SES, compared to other women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that geocoded addresses from birth certificates can be used to estimate women's neighborhood SES during the early post-partum period with little misclassification, an especially relevant finding for researchers using post-partum surveys.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, 909 Fee Hall, Room 601B, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA. cmargerisonzilko@epi.msu.edu.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Margerison-Zilko
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cubbin
authors.affiliation: Health Policy Research Department, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Braveman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011157:Population Dynamics / Q000639:trends*; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Birth certificate; Neighborhood; Post-partum; Residential mobility; Socioeconomic status