NeighborhoodContextandInfantBirthweight AmongRecentImmigrantMothers:A MultilevelAnalysis

We compared the influence of the residen-tial environment at the time of delivery withthat of the maternal country of origin onbirthweight and the proportion of low birth-weights among infants born to women whorecently immigrated to Canada and settled inOntario census metropolitan areas from1993to1995. We hypothesized that the maternalcountryoforiginwouldhaveagreatereffectonbirthweight than would the residential envi-ronmentinwhichimmigrantscurrentlyresidedin urban Ontario.