UCLA

In the second half of the 20th century, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean experienced important sociological and demographic changes with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. While fertility declined sharply, sexual and reproductive health gained increasing attention, and child morbidity and mortality largely improved, limited research has investigated how these processes vary across ethnoracial identity, rural-urban residence, and national origin. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data (1986–2017) for Latin America and the Caribbean, this dissertation explores heterogeneities in ethnoracial identity, rural-urban residence, and national origin on fertility, sexual and reproductive health, and child health outcomes. Across three empirical chapters, this dissertation tests these associations using a framework that is contextual, multilevel, and comparative, seeking to elucidate significant inequalities in this region.

The first empirical chapter relies on DHS data for seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Peru) to measure and explain rural-urban disparities in fertility for women with different levels of educational attainment. The second empirical chapter also relies on DHS data for seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Peru) to assess rural-urban differences in unintended pregnancies, contraceptive nonuse, and terminated pregnancies. Finally, the third empirical chapter uses DHS data for four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru) to explore ethnoracial differences in child under-5 mortality, stunting, wasting, and anemia.

Overall, this dissertation advances our understanding of sociological and demographic processes in a largely understudied developing region. It makes numerous important contributions to the literature: providing a holistic understanding of heterogeneities in fertility, sexual and reproductive health, and child health outcomes; measuring and explaining disparities after controlling for geographic, socioeconomic, individual, and reproductive characteristics; providing an assessment of child health disparities across ethnoracial groups; and relying on all DHS data waves for multiple countries over more than thirty years. This dissertation finds significant inequalities in fertility, sexual and reproductive health, and child health outcomes by ethnoracial identity, rural-urban residence, and national origin in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.