For a study, researchers sought to evaluate the current usage of contraception by parity among four ethnic and nativity groups: non-Latina White women in the United States, Mexican-American women in the United States, women of Mexican descent who were born abroad in the United States, and Mexican women who were born abroad in Mexico.
They integrated data from the Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics and the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth that included sexually active women between the ages of 15 and 44 who were not trying to get pregnant. A supplementary binational analysis was conducted. They assessed the prevalence of the moderately or most effective contraceptive technique by ethnicity and nativity (compared with the least effective or no contraceptive method) and evaluated the interaction between ethnicity and nativity and parity.
Women of Mexican origin had reduced odds of employing a strategy that was either moderately or most effective contraceptive method compared to non-Latina White women (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]). In all 4 groups of parous women, the adjusted likelihood of using a procedure that is either moderately or highly successful was around 65%. The parity of non-Latina White women did not affect their usage of contraceptive methods. However, parous Mexican-American women were 1.5 times more likely than nulliparous Mexican-American women to utilize contraceptives that were either moderately effective or very effective (adjusted probability 66.1% vs. 42.7%). In comparison to nulliparous women, parous foreign-born women were 1.8 times more likely to use the most or moderately effective methods of contraception (64.5% vs. 36.0%), and parous Mexican women in Mexico were three times more likely to use the most or moderately effective methods of contraception (65.2% vs. 21%).
Findings indicated that access to effective contraception for women of Mexican ancestry in the United States and, to a greater extent, in Mexico was restricted outside the context of childbirth.
