The Future of the Hispanic Family

A complex and important social structure in any population, the family is especially complex and increasingly important in the Hispanic population. Latinos account for all of the growth in recent years in the number of young adults in America in their prime marrying and childbearing years. This growth in population is primarily due to immigration and high fertility among immigrants. As a result, marriage, childbearing, and household formation often take place in the cauldron of change that is migration. For most Latinos, families are made and broken amid transformations in culture, economic footing, civic status, and identity.

On November 15, Brookings’s Center on Children and Families and the Annie E. Casey Foundation held a forum to discuss trends in marriage and childbearing in the Hispanic community and address what actions policy-makers and practitioners can take to strengthen Hispanic families and improve the well-being of children in these families. A new paper by Roberto Suro of the University of Southern California, “The Hispanic Family in Flux,” was released.