Patterns in Contraceptive Use Among Women of Mexican Origin in the United States and in Mexico

Nulliparous women of Mexican origin in the United States and Mexico are less likely to use effective contraception than parous women, suggesting limited contraceptive access before childbearing. OBJECTIVE: To examine current contraceptive use by parity among four ethnicity and nativity groups: non-Latina White women in the United States, Mexican-American women in the United States, foreign-born women of Mexican origin in the United States, and Mexican women in Mexico. METHODS: We combined nationally representative data from sexually active women, aged 15–44 years, and not seeking pregnancy from the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth and the Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics. This is a secondary binational analysis. Using multivariable logistic regression, we estimated the prevalence of moderately or most effective contraceptive method use (compared with least effective or no contraceptive method) by ethnicity and nativity and tested the interaction between ethnicity and nativity and parity. RESULTS: Compared with non-Latina White women, women of Mexican origin had lower odds of using a moderately or most effective contraceptive method (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] [95% CI] Mexican-American women: 0.69 [0.54–0.87]; foreign-born women: 0.67 [0.48–0.95]; Mexican women in Mexico: 0.59 [0.40–0.87]). Among parous women, the adjusted probability of using a moderately or most effective contraceptive method was approximately 65% among all four groups. Contraceptive method use did not differ by parity among non-Latina White women. However, parous Mexican-American women were 1.5 times more likely to use moderately or most effective contraceptive methods than nulliparous Mexican-American women (adjusted probability 66.1% vs 42.7%). Parous foreign-born women were 1.8 times more likely to use most or moderately effective contraceptive methods than their nulliparous counterparts (64.5% vs 36.0%), and parous Mexican women in Mexico were three times more likely to use moderately or most effective contraceptive methods (65.2% vs 21.5%). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that access to effective contraception is limited outside the context of childbearing for women of Mexican origin in the United States and, to an even larger extent, in Mexico.