TRENDS IN THE FERTILITY OF MEXICAN AMERICANS: 1950-1970.

This article presents a study, discusses the trends in fertility of Mexican Americans. The present paper will examine trends in Mexican American fertility in comparison to Anglo American fertility from 1950 to 1970 in the southwestern states. Attention will be devoted primarily to cumulative fertility rather than current fertility since the former measure is the only one available for all the time periods and areas studied. The principal obstacle to investigation of the dynamics of the Mexican American population is the inconsistency in definition and identification of the population over a substantial time span. The Mexican American population has been variously defined operationally by race in the 1930 Census, by Spanish mother tongue in the 1940 Census, by Spanish surname in the 1950 and 1960 Censuses, and by questions on origin or descent in the November 1969 Current Population Survey. Information compiled in the 1970 Census will allow tabulations of data according to varying combinations of mother tongue, Spanish surname and Spanish origin or descent. At the time this paper went to press, the materials published from the 1970 Census relating to the Mexican American population consisted only of data for the population of Spanish language or Spanish surname.