Working Paper: NBER ID: w14728
Authors: Cristina Yunzal-Butler; Theodore J. Joyce; Andrew D. Racine
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.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| WIC enrollment timing (I38) | smoking behavior (I12) |
| early WIC enrollment (I38) | smoking cessation rates (I12) |
| first trimester enrollment (I19) | higher quit rates (J63) |
| spontaneous quitting (J63) | observed associations (C90) |
| early enrollment (I23) | increase in relapse rates (I12) |