Using Bongaarts' model, the relative importance of the proximate determinants of fertility is explored in five populations on the US-Mexico border. For the groups closest to natural fertility (the two Mexican groups), lactation, use of contraception, and marriage all were moderately important in terms of their direct effect on fertility. For the group with lowest fertility (Anglo-American), contraceptive use was an important factor inhibiting fertility; marriage was important but not nearly as important as contraceptive use. For the two US Mexican-American groups, contraceptive use was an important intermediate variable, not as important as for Anglo-Americans, but more important than it was for the two populations in Mexico. The proportion married was a moderately important factor for the Mexican-American groups. For these five populations the principal differences in fertility rates result from substantial differences in the use of effective contraception. Bongaarts' model proved very useful as an analytical framework in this study.
PIP: The relative importance of the proximate determinants of fertility is explored in 5 populations on the US-Mexico border using Bongaarts' model. These are: Mexican nationals who do not live in the 6 northern states that border the US; Mexican nationals who live in those 6 northern Mexican states; Mexican-Americans who were born in Mexico but now reside in the 4 US states that border Mexico and who prefer to speak Spanish at home; Mexican-Americans who were born in the US, live in the 4 US states that border Mexico, identify themselves as Mexican-American or Chicanos, and prefer to speak English at home, and Anglo-Americans who were born in the US, have non-Spanish surnames, and live in the 4 US states that border Mexico. For the groups closest to natural fertility (the 2 Mexican groups), lactation, use of contraception, and marriage all were moderately important in terms of their direct effect on fertility. For the group with the lowest fertility (Anglo-American), contraceptive use was an important factor inhibiting fertility; marriage was important but not nearly as important as contraceptive use. For the 2 US Mexican-American groups, contraceptive use was an important intermediate variable, not as important for Anglo-Americans, but more important than it was for the 2 populations in Mexico. The proportion married was a moderately important factor for the Mexican-American groups. For these 5 populations the principle differences in fertility rates result from substantial differences in the use of effective contraception. Bongaarts' model proved very useful as an analytical framework in this study.