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  • Title: The cross-cultural study of fertility among Hispanic adolescents in the Americas.
    Author: Fennelly K, Kandiah V, Ortiz V.
    Journal: Stud Fam Plann; 1989; 20(2):96-101. PubMed ID: 2718216.
    Abstract:
    This paper examines various definitions of marriage in order to compare the nonmarital fertility of Hispanic adolescents in the Americas. The data include distributions of legal marriages and consensual unions among adolescents in Latin America, proportions of Latin American adolescents who have borne a child by categories of marriage and consensual unions, marital distributions among Hispanic adolescents in the United States, and fertility by marital status for young US Hispanics. The vast majority of young women in Latin America report never having been married or in union, although more reported living in consensual union than in legal marriages. Rates of childbearing are low among women who report never having been consensually or legally married. Foreign-born Hispanic women are considerably more likely to be married than their US-born compatriots. Foreign-born women from countries with high rates of consensual unions are more likely than young US-born women to have had a premarital birth; in contrast, foreign-born women from countries with low rates of consensual unions are less likely to have borne a child. Cross-cultural analysis of marital statuses of Hispanic adolescents in Latin America and the US indicates this variable has important implications for subsequent fertility. A drawback of this analysis was that specific comparisons of nonmarital fertility in Latin America and the US was precluded by incompatible definitions of marriage, specifically whether women who are in consensual unions are coded in surveys and censuses as being married. Estimates of the percent of young women who have ever been married vary considerably depending upon the inclusion or exclusion of consensual unions. In selected Latin American countries, the percentage of mothers among 15-19 year olds ranged from a low 9% in Guatemala to a high of 27% in Guatemala. Rates of childbearing are very low (5-9%) among women in these Latin American countries who have never been married or in a consensual union. More Latin American women reported living in consensual unions than in legal marriages. Foreign-born Hispanic women are more likely to be married than their US-born Hispanic counterparts. Foreign-born women from countries with high rates of consensual unions (Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic) are more likely than their US-born adolescent counterparts to have had a premarital birth. In contrast, foreign-born women from countries with low rates of consensual unions (Mexico and Colombia) are less likely to have born a child. To refine analyses in this area, changes in the wording of survey and census questions are urged to clarify the overlap between consensual unions and other marital status categories.
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