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Mexican- & Anglo-American infant mortality rates are nearing parity, despite the fact that the former population is characterized by higher fertility, younger age at first childbearing, less adequate prenatal care, & lower socioeconomic status. To determine whether this epidemiologic paradox can be accounted for in terms of birth weight distribution, standard decomposition techniques are applied to data from the San Antonio (TX) Metropolitan Health District over a 30-year period. The findings indicate that 20%-25% of the decline in infant mortality rates among Anglos are explained by improvements in birth weight composition, while none of the decline among Mexican Americans can be explained in this manner. When comparing the specific weights at which most births actually occur, however, it becomes clear that the enormous Mexican-American disadvantage so evident in 1953 had been dramatically reduced by 1983. Thus, while ethnic differentials in birth weight distribution fail to explain why infant mortality rates have now converged, changes in weight-specific risks do explain this convergence. 5 Tables, 31 References. Adapted from the source document.

Why a parity exists between Mexican origin and Anglo infant mortality rates, based on data from San Antonio Metropolitan Health district and Bexar county, Texas, 1935-85.

Observed rates of Spanish surname (Mexican-American) exogamy for marriages & individuals, by sex, are considered in conjunction with expected rates calculated as probabilities based on the size of the minority relative to the total population marrying. A number of possible determinants of differentials in Mexican-American intermarriage rates -- in particular those having to do with the demographic & SE context of several areas in the Southwest -- are taken into account. Although the secular trend suggests slow movment toward higher levels of exogamy, the results of the present analysis indicate that the slope of the trend line varies considerably among areas. Currently, incidence of exogamy is increasing slowly, if at all, & in at least one area may be declining. If the rate of intermarriage constitutes a primary indicator of the degree of assimilation of a minority, it must be concluded that the Mexican-American population will continue to represent a distinct sociocultural entity for some time to come. 3 Tables. AA.

Efforts to anticipate and account for future migration patterns would seem to hinge on an examination of the potential for the supply, demand and replacement of labor. In Mexico, the projected number of males entering the labor force ages will be about 48 percent larger in the 1980s than in the 1970s and entrants will outnumber departures by a labor force replacement ratio of 407 to 100—a fifty year high. Fertility declined significantly in Mexico in the 1970s, and therefore the number of new entrants to the labor force ages in the 1990s will decline; the replacement ratio is projected to be about 330 to 100—a decrease of 19 percent. Nevertheless, it seems very unlikely, even allowing for renewed rapid growth in Mexico's economy, that new job opportunities can be created to accommodate such an enormous influx to the job market. Accommodations may be made more difficult because of increasing expectations of workers.