Mexican American women in the labor force and lowered fertility

Intra group variations in fertility rates provide information for effective program planning as well as for short term population trends. Among Mexican Americans there is a wide range of contrasting childbearing patterns whose variety goes unrecognized under a single cultural identification. Recognition of these different patterns has been obscured by the relatively young age distribution of Mexican American women, most of whom are at the peak childbearing ages. Other confounding factors in previous studies have been the use of male income, education, and occupation as analytic categories (although fertility is more closely associated with the characteristics of women than with those of men); and the selection of standard populations which mask the particular age distributions associated with contemporary Mexican American fertility patterns.