| Resumo: | This paper presents the results of exploratory efforts to examine the determinants of the structure of households in urban areas of Mexico, focusing on those of women with young children.The paper outlines a basic conceptual framework to examine the determinants of household structures in developing countries; describes trends in household structure; and presents multivariate regression models of correlates of household structure using survey data. The results and implications for other demographic behaviors of interest, such as employment of women and child care are discussed, as well as brief considerations for further research.The empirical analysis uses two cross-sectional national surveys of Mexico, the "Encuesta Nacional Demográfica" 1982 and the "Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud" 1987, in an attempt to capture the changes in household formation patterns. These two surveys cover a period of economic deterioration for urban areas in Mexico.Findings suggest that under deteriorating conditions of urban areas in Mexico, as were prevalent between 1982 and 1987, forming extended households was increasingly a strategy to support women's participation in paid employment, to provide care for young infants, to enable younger women to care for their child(ren), and as a strategy to support self-employment in the household. We also find that having better dwellings became more likely to be associated with household extension by 1987.
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