Maternal Smoking and the Timing of WIC Enrollment

39 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2009 Last revised: 30 Sep 2022

See all articles by Theodore Joyce

Theodore Joyce

CUNY Baruch College - Zicklin School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Andrew Racine

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - NY Office; Montefiore Medical Center

Cristina Yunzal

CUNY The Graduate Center - Department of Economics

Date Written: February 2009

Abstract

We investigate the association between the timing of enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and smoking among prenatal WIC participants. We use WIC data from eight states participating in the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System (PNSS). Women who enroll in WIC in the first trimester of pregnancy are 2.7 percentage points more likely to be smoking at intake than women who enroll in the third trimester. Among participants who smoked before pregnancy and at prenatal WIC enrollment, those who enrolled in the first trimester are 4.5 percentage points more likely to quit smoking 3 months before delivery and 3.4 percentage points more likely to quit by postpartum registration, compared with women who do not enroll in WIC until the third trimester. Overall, early WIC enrollment is associated with higher quit rates, although changes are modest when compared to the results from smoking cessation interventions for pregnant women.

Suggested Citation

Joyce, Theodore J. and Racine, Andrew and Yunzal, Cristina, Maternal Smoking and the Timing of WIC Enrollment (February 2009). NBER Working Paper No. w14728, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1344708

Theodore J. Joyce (Contact Author)

CUNY Baruch College - Zicklin School of Business ( email )

17 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10010
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

365 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10016-4309
United States

Andrew Racine

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) - NY Office ( email )

365 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
50 East 42nd Street, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10016-4309
United States

Montefiore Medical Center ( email )

111 East 210th Street
Bronx, NY 10467

Cristina Yunzal

CUNY The Graduate Center - Department of Economics ( email )

365 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10016
United States

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