Mexican American Fertility Patterns.

Abstract

This book reports the effects of generation on fertility and the relationship between linguistic patterns and fertility among Mexican Americans. Using 3 data sources--1970 and 1980 US Census Public Use Sample data and the 1976 Survey of Income and Education data--a comparative framework is constructed which evaluates the relative merits of and group hypotheses as they pertain to Mexican American and black fertility behavior. Chapters include 1) an introduction to the study; 2) a review of the literature; 3) the theoretical framework to guide the analyses; 4) a methodology describing the data measures and statistical procedures used; 5) an examination of the effects on own children fertility measures of generational status and female education within generational groups; 6) the effect of opportunity costs on Mexican American fertility and language proficiency; 7) a comparative analysis of Mexican American and black fertility; and 8) a summary of the findings. The minority group status hypothesis predicts that at some point in the assimilation process fertility levels of subgroups will fall below that of majority groups; social-psychological insecurities are thought to limit childbearing among minority group couples especially when accompanied by strong desires for acculturation. Later generational status English proficiency and frequent usage of English are all negatively associated with the cumulative fertility of Mexican American women. Overall structural relationships between groups in a society may operate to pattern racial and ethnic fertility differentials independently of the individual characteristics of the members of minority and majority groups.

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