Thread: Study shows Latinas have highest birth rate

Study shows Latinas have highest birth rate

By Eve Hightower
The Modesto Bee (CA), June 2, 2008

Modesto, CA — Although Latinas tend to have less education and earn less money than most women, they have the highest birthrates, according to a newly released report from the Pew Hispanic Center.

The fertility rate of Latinas is one-third higher than that of non-Latinas. Immigrant Latinas tend to have the most children, while U.S.-born Latinas have the highest rate of single motherhood.

The report released last month is based on U.S. census data that also shows 35 percent of immigrant Latinas who gave birth from 2006 to 2007 were unwed. About 34 percent of non-Latina women in the United States gave birth out of wedlock.

There is a chasm between the traditional Latin American expectations of women and the reality Latinas face living in the United States every day, said Monica Lopez, of Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education. Her group works with single parents, trying to further their educations.

‘Once your kids are out of your sight, they are in another culture,’ Lopez said.

Latino parents trying to instill traditional values in their children are not preparing them to deal with the problems kids face, said Pedro Elias of Planned Parenthood.

Parents and grandparents who grew up in Latin America rarely talk about sex and contraception. ‘They know people are having sex, but they just don’t talk about it,’ he said.

While Latinas have the highest teen birthrate among major ethnic groups in the United States, it does not entirely explain the single motherhood rate among Latinas.

Like non-Latinas, many single Latina moms are divorced. The Pew survey did not explore divorce rates. However, it found that six in 10 immigrant Latinas in the United States are from Mexico.

Mexicans tend to be more secure in their marriages than U.S. citizens, according to the Legatum Prosperity Index. It found that 90 percent of Mexicans say they are in strong marriages while only about half of U.S. couples declare they are in strong marriages.

Braulia Cantoran, 36, thought she was in a strong marriage. She was living the traditional Latina life, with one daughter and another on the way when her marriage began to fall apart.

‘It just didn’t work out,’ she said.

So Cantoran, who never attended high school, divorced her husband and started taking classes at Modesto Junior College. It was a tough choice, she said.

‘My husband was my life. I thought divorce was the end of the world. Then I saw I’m not alone. Other people divorce and find the energy to support their kids. It’s hard, but not impossible,’ she said balancing her 3-year-old on one knee while keeping watch on her 9-year-old.

U.S.-born Latinas’ high rate of single motherhood is startling to Librado Ulloa, a youth group leader at St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church in Riverbank, Calif..

Ulloa said he tries to instill the importance of marriage and abstinence in young Latinas, but he says the church is working against a more alluring culture in which sex is less sacred and women have a stronger sense of independence.

He said U.S.-born Latinas want to adhere to their families’ values, so they don’t plan to have sex and may not know about birth control. But when they are away from their families, they want to fit in.

Once pregnant, they tend to keep the baby, said Memo Benitez, associate youth minister at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock, Calif.. He said the church frequently discusses abortion and discourages it.

Sabiola Garcia, 20, said there is no single cause of U.S.-born Latinas’ high unwed birthrate. Caught between two cultures, they find themselves in a challenging situation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Pew Hispanic Center’s report is available online at: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/42.pdf

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/306190.html

Sabiola Garcia, 20, said there is no single cause of U.S.-born Latinas’ high unwed birthrate.

OH YES THERE IS PLENTY!! They're called welfare, WIC, food stamps, Title VIII and cash.

Please.......they have dominate male culture which promotes sex whether you are a willing partner or not. From what I have known the girls gain their personal worth from getting pregnant and having many children since it's why they brag so much about their "fertility". Quit blaming the American culture for there lack of self control. All their TV is about is sex.....their magazines are all about sex. I bet there's 1 really big reason they don't get married. You get more freebies from the government when you aren't. Same reason we have so many who don't.

You can't tell me they don't know about sex when they're packed in like sardines. I had one Mexican friend who slept with his parents till he left for college......when his parents had sex he was told to go and look out the window. Listen to Lopez in his comedy routien and that's all you hear about is sex. We don't have a stellar reputation in that rhelm but don't give me this nonsence that it's something "new" since they came to America. Heck.....they lock themselves away intent on living "their culture" to where I don't think they even know what the American culture is. Just something else to blame America for. Try knocking on the Catholic churches door who doesn't appear to encourage any birth control.

As for divorce rates......I bet it comes from not having to put up with drunk abusive men anymore. Something that's also increasingly high in their "culture" and one thing this culture no longer tolerates. Heck the poor women in Mexico can't even ride in a bus without being sexually harrassed and fondled. There was a warning in some area of South America where tourist females were encouraged to never travel alone because the men were so uncontrollable in unwanted advances.

Seems to me education and male dominate society with little regard for women are 2 reasons some cultures have so many children........we did for awhile.....I remember the old saying "keep em bare foot and pregnant"....while the old goat would carry on in whatever fashion he felt like, she was neck deep in diapers catering to his every whim. Some men had the attitude that the more children they could father, the more a Man they were. They wanted total control and once women find their freedom....they don't tolerate that treatment as easily anymore. Once they discover they can do more than just find a man and have babies by the time they're 16....ya things change.

And they start breeding very young

"Study shows Latinas have highest birth rate"


You needed a study to tell you that??
Then obviously you don't live near any large populations of Latinos!
(You never see just one!)