Male fertility, reproductive valuations and sexual practices in Mexico: transformations under way?

Susana Lerner, El Colegio de México
Olga Rojas, El Colegio de México
Mario Martínez, El Colegio de México

In a particular context such as Mexico, a country in the midst of a demographic transition, characterised by a rapid decline in fertility, we analyse the changes that have taken place recently in three dimensions: a) male attitudes to contraception; b) men’s appraisal of their children and their relationship with new reproductive preferences and c) males’ sexual behaviour, perceptions of risk and protective attitudes towards STD and HIV-AIDS, and their influence on the dynamics of male fertility. The data come from the very recent National Reproductive Health Survey on Mexican male population, applied in 2003 to approximately 1,000 males between the ages of 20 and 59. 1) The first stage of analysis involves the changes that have taken place over time in each of the dimensions described, for which a longitudinal analysis will be carried out on the basis of three generations of males. 2) The second stage involves using multivariate regression analysis to study the influence of changes in these three dimensions on changes in the fertility of Mexican males.