Poverty or Ethnicity? Differences in Schooling of Rural Youths in Yucatan Peninsula

Cecilia A. Rabell, Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
Marta Mier-y-Teran, Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico

Almost all researchers agree that Mexican indigenous populations are poorer and less educated than non indigenous ones. We want to know whether the fact of belonging to a Maya speaking family has a negative effect on rural youths' school attendance, once family economic status and parents' education are controlled. Also, if this effect is the same for Maya families living in indigenous and "Mestizo" communities. We suppose that youths from Maya speaking families in "Mestizo" communities are very disadvantaged , whereas Maya speaking youths in indigenous villages will attend school for longer periods of time, but still less than non indigenous youths. Another issue we will address are gender differences in the two types of families and communities. In order to separate family from community effects, we will apply a hierarchical linear model to data from the "PROGRESA" household survey done in 1996-2000 by the Ministry of Social Development in poor rural localities.