Comparison of Breast- Fed and Formula-Fed Children

Popular Press Article

The article is “Sibling Study Shows Little Difference between Breast- and-Bottle-Feeding” written by Alexandra Stifferlin published in TIME Magazine on February 25, 2014.

Summary of the Popular Press Article

The article shortly summarizes new findings of a study published in the scholarly journal Social Science & Medicine, conducted by Assistant Professor of sociology at the Ohio State University Cynthia Colen. The Times Magazine article describes the research done by Colen as a longitudinal study using three populations of 8,237 children, 7,319 siblings and 1,773 paired siblings as its sample where one sibling was breast-fed while the other was not. Sifferlin stated there were eleven outcomes during the study used to determine the impact breast feeding had on the population. The eleven outcomes derived from prior research. The author of the article interpreted the findings of the study and the findings of previous studies of related topics.

Findings According to the Author of the TIME Magazine Article

Assumed Original Study Design, Rationale and Purpose

This was an exploratory study designed to develop a better understanding of the long term effects of breast and formula fed children. Due the research producing numerical data to describe the happenings of the study it can be assumed that the original study was considered quantitative. This was a longitudinal trend study because specific characteristics were monitored to distinguish and compare and contrast changes within the population over time. The purpose of the study performed by Cynthia Colen according to Alexandra Sifferlin was to reveal the true benefits of breast- feeding a child and how those children differed long term from bottle-fed children....

... middle of paper ...

... original study was precisely detailed throughout the entire journal article. Colen presented a background of the entire study for readers to capture the importance and relevance of the topic and broke each finding and outcome down through full comprehensive explanation. Overall, the TIME article complemented the original study’s findings very well without sharing too much information, but leaving the reader to inform themselves further if desired.

Works Cited

Colen, Cynthia, and David Ramey. "Is Breast Truly Best? Estimating the Effects of Breastfeeding on Long-term Child Health and Wellbeing in the United States Using Sibling Comparisons." Social Science & Medicine 109 (2014): 55-65. Science Direct. Web.

Sifferlin, Alexandra. "Sibling Study Shows Little Difference Between Breast- and Bottle- Feeding." TIME Magazine 25 Feb. 2014: n. pag. Web.