Family Structure and Family Formation among Low-Income Hispanics in the U.S.

This research brief, from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, provides a national portrait of low-income Hispanic families in the U.S. Having a better understanding of these families will help programs and policymakers in their efforts to assist these families. We use recent nationally-representative data to describe the relationship and childbearing histories of low-income Hispanic men and women aged 15 to 44. Importantly, we distinguish by nativity—i.e., born in the U.S. versus in some other country—as family formation patterns vary greatly by nativity, and these differences are obscured when Hispanics are examined as a whole.