Intra-Latina Fertility Differentials in the United States

Abstract

This study assesses whether Latinas’ ethnic and racial self-identification can predict their number of “children ever born” (CEB) after controlling for cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors. Analyzed together, these factors measure the role that existing racial/ethnic structures have on the experiences of Latino subgroups. I pool data from the Fertility Supplement of the Integrated Public Use Micro-data Series (IPUMS) Current Population Survey. Following a series of zero-inflated Poisson regressions and controlling for cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors, women who ethnically self-identify as Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Central American have more CEB than women who self-identify as Cuban. Simultaneously, Latinas who racially self-identify as white have fewer CEB than nonwhite Latinas. I propose that the different racialized experiences of these groups can help explain these patterns. Moreover, I argue that the results provide empirical evidence of the multicausal explanations for intra-Latina fertility behavior.