Maternal Education and Maternal Behaviour in Mexico: Implications for the Changing Characteristics of Mexican Immigrants to the United States

Abstract

This article summarises findings of research designed to shed light on the mechanisms by which female schooling changes atttitudes to childbearing and childrearing in Mexico. The data reported come primarily from a 1987 survey in the rural Mexican town of Tilzapotla in the state of Morelos. Subsidiary data come from a later survey in 1990 and from a survey and home observations carried out in 1983 in the urban area of Cuernavaca. Conditions of childbearing and childrearing in Tilzapotla and Cuernavaca are relevant to these issues among Mexican immigrants in the United States because these communities are among many in Mexico from which Mexican immigrants to the United States originate. Together the results indicate that increases in maternal schooling lead to more prenatal care, more use of contraception, and smaller family size. The studies indicate that the pathways by which these effects are achieved relate to the emphasis that schools place on verbal interaction and decontextualised language use. This communication model presented in school by the teacher subsequently influences the way the schooled mother deals with her own children, with mass media, and with the health care system. The overall level of education in Tilzapotla, as in the rest of Mexico, has been rising over the last two decades. Current Mexican immigrants to the United States therefore arrive with higher levels of education than was the case 20 or 30 years ago. As a consequence, findings concerning the effects of maternal education on childbearing and childrearing imply that mothers currently immigrating from Mexico will more frequently have the childbearing and childrearing attitudes, skills, and practices of the more highly educated Mexican mothers in our studies than was the case in past decades of immigration.