Dr. Reanne Frank, Sociology
Rank at time of award: Professor
Mexican-Americans are the largest single country-of-origin Hispanic/Latinx subgroup living in the United States, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the broader Latinx population (Noe-Bustamante 2019). Since 2000, the Mexican-origin population has increased 76%, growing from 20.9 million to 36.6 million. Not surprisingly, MexicanOrigin women have also had the highest fertility rates in the country over the past several decades (Kroeger et al. Forthcoming). Hence, understanding the childbearing patterns of Mexican-Origin women is critical for a broader understanding of the future of U.S. fertility trends. Unfortunately, we have, at best, an incomplete picture of childbearing in this population, and at worst, one that is misleading- inaccurately inflating overall levels and mischaracterizing change (Parrado and Flippen 2012). We aim to provide a descriptive account of how childbearing has changed among the Mexican-Origin population over a 30-year period (1993-2020)1 and estimate how changing local and state immigration and reproductive health contexts have causally impacted Mexican-Origin fertility and birth outcomes.