Changes in timing of marriage, childbearing and sexual behavior practices among low and high income groups in Mexico

Jorge Armando Valencia-Rodriguez, University of Pennsylvania
Olga Rojas, El Colegio de México

Secularization has been one of the most important transformations in the last century, both at the individual and family level, and Mexico is no exception. This has been motivated by the many developmental, structural, and demographic changes experienced in the country: an increase in women’s education, low fertility, high contraceptive prevalence and an increasing proportion of sexual intercourse outside marriage, among others. In contrast, marriage trends have remained constant. An important question which we will investigate in this paper is “To what extent and how does the timing of marriage as well as the terms of marriage affect patterns of sexual behavior before marriage, and childbearing”. The aim is explore the dissociation of sexual behavior and marriage, and to develop a typology of transitions that characterizes the different pathways follow by women in Mexico. Data to be used is the National Survey of Demographic Dynamics 2006.