Breastfeeding

HealthStyles Survey — Breastfeeding Practices: 2010

Data by Year

The HealthStyles survey is one of a pair of linked postal mail surveys sent to a sample of adults aged 18 years and older. It is drawn to be nationally representative of seven U.S. Census Bureau demographic characteristics. The first survey is a consumer survey about general media habits, product use, interests, and lifestyle. The second survey, HealthStyles, focuses on health orientations and practices. This survey has been administered annually since 1995. From 1995 through 2001 it was linked with the DDB Needham LifeStyles consumer survey. Beginning in 2002 it is linked with the Porter Novelli ConsumerStyles survey. HealthStyles is a proprietary database product of Porter Novelli and is licensed by the CDC for audience analysis in health communication planning.

For additional information regarding CDC's involvement in the annual Healthstyles Survey, visit the CDC Office of Communications.

HealthStyles Questions and Data by Year

All items are coded on the likert scale of 1 to 5 from strongly disagree, to moderately disagree, neither disagree nor agree, moderately agree, or strongly agree.

2010 HealthStyles Survey Items

Question	# Respondents (undweighted)	Agree	Neither Agree/ Disagree	Disagree
1. Feeding a baby formula instead of breast milk increases the chances the baby will get sick.	3980	26.37	35.41	38.23
2. Infant formula is as good as breast milk.	4003	20.53	30.80	48.68
3. One-year-old children should not be breastfed by their mother.	4021	30.44	35.27	34.29
4. A mother who breastfeeds has to give up too many lifestyle habits like favorite foods, cigarette smoking, and drinking alcohol.	4035	48.19	21.39	30.42
5. I believe women should have the right to breastfeed in public places.	4109	58.64	23.42	17.94
6. Public buildings need to have a room where women could breastfeed and pump milk for their babies.	4082	55.18	29.62	15.20
7. I believe employers should provide flexible work schedules, such as additional break time, for breastfeeding mothers.	4099	43.79	33.14	23.07
8. I believe employers should provide extended maternity leave to make it easier for mothers to breastfeed.	4071	36.16	35.88	27.96
9. I believe employers should provide a private room for breastfeeding mothers to pump their milk at work.	4087	45.13	30.43	24.44
10. There should be a federal law providing paid maternity leave to workers.	4087	46.08	30.40	23.52
11. It is embarrassing for a mother to breastfeed in front of others.	4070	32.08	35.71	32.20
12. Breastfeeding is healthier for babies than formula feeding.	4079	72.88	21.97	5.14