Contribution of Immigration to Adolescent Fertility in Spain Considering the Reproductive Pattern in the Country of Origin

Abstract

Adolescent fertility displays a trend that does not follow—and even runs contrary to—the general temporal fertility pattern. Multiple factors determine this trend, including socioeconomic conditions and cultural patterns at both immigrants’ place of origin of and their destination. This article analyzes adolescent fertility in Spain with regard to country of maternal origin using records of deliveries (1980–2008) and information from countries with high immigration rates to Spain. After 1980, deliveries to adolescents diminished; after 1996, only Spanish-born adolescents continued this downward trend, but not immigrants. The factors responsible for these differences are diverse and related to the characteristics of the immigrants themselves, in addition to the situation of immigrants in the Spanish context.

Acknowledgments

We would particularly like to thank David Reher (Population and Society Studies Group, GEPS, Spain) for his bibliographic help and methodological advice. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project reference CGL2008-03737).