■ The U.S. foreign-born population grew 57.4 percent in the 1990s; by 2000 nearly onethird of U.S. immigrants resided outside established settlement states. Thirteen states primarily in the West and Southeast—including many that had not previously been major destinations for immigrants—saw foreign-born growth rates more than double the national average. These states included, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. ■ Historical settlement patterns along with recent influxes of immigrants have produced six major types of U.S. immigrant “gateways.” Former gateways, like Cleveland and Buffalo, attracted immigrants in the early 1900s but no longer do. Continuous gateways such as New York and Chicago are long-established destinations for immigrants and continue to receive large numbers of the foreign-born. Post-World War II gateways like Los Angeles and Miami began attracting immigrants on a grand scale during the past 50 years. Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, D.C., meanwhile, stand out as emerging gateways with fast immigrant growth during the past 20 years. Seattle and the Twin Cities—places that began the 20 th century with strong immigrant pulls—waned as destinations during the middle of the century, but are now re-emerging as important immigrant gateways. Finally, Salt Lake City and Raleigh-Durham are very recent immigrant destinations, having attracted significant numbers of immigrants in the 1990s alone. These are the pre-emerging gateways. ■ Newly emerging immigrant gateways experienced rapid growth of both the foreignand native-born between 1980 and 2000, while the more established gateways experienced slower percentage growth of both—albeit from a larger base population. The continuous gateways, for example, would have lost population or stagnated absent the arrival of the foreign-born. By contrast, emerging and pre-emerging gateways exhibited strong population growth while also watching their foreign-born populations surge by as much as 817 percent (Atlanta) and 709 percent (Raleigh-Durham) over the two decades. ■ By 2000 more immigrants in metropolitan areas lived in suburbs than cities, and their growth rates there exceeded those in the cities. Most notably, immigrants in emerging gateways are far more likely to live in the suburbs than in central cities. ■ Recent arrivals to the newest immigrant gateways tend to come from Asia or Mexico, are poorer than the native-born population, and have low English proficiency and lower rates of U.S. citizenship. By contrast, continuous and post-World War II gateways have longer-residing immigrant populations, immigrant poverty rates similar to those of the native population, and relatively higher rates of naturalization, although English proficiency remains low. Findings An analysis of immigration to metropolitan areas during the 20 th century using U.S. Census data reveals that:
List of Tables and Figures Preface Acknowledgments 1. Twelve Stories Miami Stories MarIa de los Angeles and Yvette Santana: August 1993 Melanie Fernandez-Rey: September 1993 Aristide Maillol: August 1993 Armando and Luis Hern*ndez: July 1995 Mary Patterson: February 1995 EfrEn Montejo: May 1994 San Diego Stories Jorge, Olga, Miguel Angel, and Estela Cardozo: January 1994 Quy Nguyen: December 1987 Bennie and Jennifer Montoya: October 1995 Sophy Keng: November 1987 - June 1988 Yolanda and Carlos Munoz: March 1994 Boua Cha: 1988 - 1990 2. The New Americans: An Overview Immigration Yesterday and Today The Size and Concentration of the Second Generation Studying the New Second Generation: The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study The New Second Generation at a Glance Census Results CILS Results 3. Not Everyone Is Chosen: Segmented Assimilation and Its Determinants How Immigrants Are Received: Modes of Incorporation and Their Consequences Acculturation and Role Reversal Where They Grow Up: Challenges to Second-Generation Adaptation Race Labor Markets Countercultures Confronting the Challenge: Immigrant Social Capital Parental Status, Family Structure, and Gender The Immigrant Community Conclusion 4. Making It in America Early Adaptation and Achievement General Trends Nationality and Achievement Determinants of Parental Economic Achievement Interaction Effects Nationality and Family Composition Conclusion 5. In Their Own Eyes: Immigrant Outlooks on America Aura Lila MarIn, Cuban, 53, Single Mother (1994) Pao Yang, Laotian Hmong, 57, Father (1995) Optimism Permissiveness Ambition Community and Pride Conclusion 6. Lost in Translation: Language and the New Second Generation Bilingualism: Yesterday and Today Shadow Boxing: Myth and Reality of Language Acculturation General Trends National Differences Forced-March Acculturation What Makes a Bilingual? A Game of Mirrors: Language Instruction and Types of Acculturation 7. Defining the Situation: The Ethnic Identities of Children of Immigrants Sites of Belonging: The Complex Allegiances of Children of Immigrants Developing a Self Past Research Who Am I? Patterns of Ethnic Self-Identification Ethnic Identity Shifts Stability and Salience Ethnic Self-Identities by National Origin Where Do I Come From? Nation, Family, and Identity Correlates of Self-Identities Family Status, Composition, and Language The Influence of Parental Self-Identities Region, Schools, and Discrimination The Race Question Determinants of Ethnic and Racial Identities Conclusion: From Translation Artists to Living Paradoxes 8. The Crucible Within: Family, Schools, and the Psychology of the Second Generation San Diego Families Family Cohesion, Conflict, and Change School Environments and Peer Groups Psychological Well-Being: Self-Esteem and Depressive Affect School Engagement and Effort Educational Expectations Determinants of Psychosocial Outcomes Self-Esteem and Depression Ambition Conclusion 9. School Achievement and Failure Early Educational Achievement Preliminary Results Determinants of Early Achievement Educational Achievement in Late Adolescence Grades in Senior High School Change over Time Dropping Out of School Two Achievement Paradoxes Southeast Asians Cuban Americans Conclusion 10. Conclusion: Mainstream Ideologies and the Long-Term Prospects of Immigrant Communities Two Mainstream Ideologies A Third Way: Selective Acculturation and Bilingualism The Mexican Case Theoretical Reprise Time and Acculturation Reactive Ethnicity and Its Aftermath Appendix A. Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study: Follow-up Questionnaire Appendix B. Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study: Parental Questionnaire Appendix C. Variables Used in Multivariate Analyses: Chapters 6 to 9 Notes References Index
This review examines research on the assimilation of immigrant groups. We review research on four primary benchmarks of assimilation: socioeconomic status, spatial concentration, language assimilation, and intermarriage. The existing literature shows that today's immigrants are largely assimilating into American society along each of these dimensions. This review also considers directions for future research on the assimilation of immigrant groups in new southern and midwestern gateways and how sociologists measure immigrant assimilation. We document the changing geography of immigrant settlement and review the emerging body of research in this area. We argue that examining immigrant assimilation in these new immigrant gateways is crucial for the development of theories about immigrant assimilation. We also argue that we are likely to see a protracted period of immigrant replenishment that may change the nature of assimilation. Studying this change requires sociologists to use both birth cohort and generation as temporal markers of assimilation.
Contents: K. Phalet, Foreword. Preface. J.W. Berry, J.S. Phinney, K. Kwak, D.L. Sam, Introduction: Goals and Research Framework for Studying Immigrant Youth. J.W. Berry, C. Westin, E. Virta, P. Vedder, R. Rooney, D. Sang, Design of the Study: Selecting Societies of Settlement and Immigrant Groups. P. Vedder, F.J.R. van de Vijver, Methodological Aspects: Studying Adolescents in 13 Countries. J.S. Phinney, J.W. Berry, P. Vedder, K. Liebkind, The Acculturation Experience: Attitudes, Identities, and Behaviors of Immigrant Youth. D.L. Sam, P. Vedder, C. Ward, G. Horenczyk, Psychological and Sociocultural Adaptation of Immigrant Youth. P. Vedder, F.J.R. van de Vijver, K. Liebkind, Predicting Immigrant Youth's Adaptation Across Countries and Ethnocultural Groups. J.S. Phinney, P. Vedder, Family Relationship Values of Adolescents and Parents: Intergenerational Discrepancies and Adaptation. P. Vedder, D.L. Sam, F.J.R. van de Vijver, J.S. Phinney, Vietnamese and Turkish Immigrant Youth: Acculturation and Adaptation in Two Ethnocultural Groups. J.S. Phinney, J.W. Berry, D.L. Sam, P. Vedder, Understanding Immigrant Youth: Conclusions and Implications. Appendices.
OBJECTIVE: Although widely reported among Latino populations, contradictory evidence exists regarding the generalizability of the immigrant paradox, i.e., that foreign nativity protects against psychiatric disorders. The authors examined whether this paradox applies to all Latino groups by comparing estimates of lifetime psychiatric disorders among immigrant Latino subjects, U.S-born Latino subjects, and non-Latino white subjects. METHOD: The authors combined and examined data from the National Latino and Asian American Study and the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, two of the largest nationally representative samples of psychiatric information. RESULTS: In the aggregate, risk of most psychiatric disorders was lower for Latino subjects than for non-Latino white subjects. Consistent with the immigrant paradox, U.S.-born Latino subjects reported higher rates for most psychiatric disorders than Latino immigrants. However, rates varied when data were stratified by nativity and disorder and adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic differences across groups. The immigrant paradox consistently held for Mexican subjects across mood, anxiety, and substance disorders, while it was only evident among Cuban and other Latino subjects for substance disorders. No differences were found in lifetime prevalence rates between migrant and U.S.-born Puerto Rican subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Caution should be exercised in generalizing the immigrant paradox to all Latino groups and for all psychiatric disorders. Aggregating Latino subjects into a single group masks significant variability in lifetime risk of psychiatric disorders, with some subgroups, such as Puerto Rican subjects, suffering from psychiatric disorders at rates comparable to non-Latino white subjects. Our findings thus suggest that immigrants benefit from a protective context in their country of origin, possibly inoculating them against risk for substance disorders, particularly if they emigrated to the United States as adults.
Abstract. In this article we address the question whether or not the votes for anti–immigrant parties can be considered as protest votes. We define protest votes by the motives underlying electoral choices, building on earlier research done by Tillie (1995) and Van der Eijk & Franklin (1996). That research showed that ideological proximity and party size are the best predictors of party preference. On this basis we designed a typology of motives for party choice and how these motives would manifest themselves empirically. Analyzing the 1994 elections for the European Parliament for seven political systems we show that anti–immigrant parties attract no more protest votes than other parties do, with only one exception: the Dutch Centrumdemocraten. Voting for anti–immigrant parties is largely motivated by ideological and pragmatic considerations, just like voting for other parties. In addition, (negative) attitudes towards immigrants have a stronger effect on preferences for anti–immigrant parties than on preference for other parties. Social cleavages and attitudes towards European unification are of minor importance as determinants of preferences for anti–immigrant parties. The overall conclusion is that a rational choice model of electoral behavior has strong explanatory power for party preferences in general, but also for the support for anti–immigrant parties in particular.
This paper reexamines the empirical basis for two "facts" that seem to be found in most cross-section studies of immigrant earnings: (1) the earnings of immigrants grow rapidly as they assimilate into the United States; and (2) this rapid growth leads to many immigrants' overtaking the earnings of the natives within 10-15 years after immigration. Using the 1970 and 1980 U.S. censuses, this paper studies the earnings growth experienced by specific immigrant cohorts during the period 1970-80. It is found that within-cohort growth is significantly smaller than the growth predicted by cross-section regressions for most immigrant groups. This differential is consistent with the hypothesis that there has been a secular decline in the "quality" of immigrants admitted to the United States.
Data from a longitudinal sample of Cuban emigres are used to test competing hypotheses about the mode of incorporation of new immigrants into the U.S. labor market. Classic theories of assimilation assumed a unified economy in which immigrants started at the bottom and gradually moved up occupationally, while they gained social acceptance. Recent dual labor market theories define new immigrants mainly as additions to the secondary labor market linked with small peripheral firms. Multivariate analyses confirm the existence of the primary/secondary dichotomy but add to it a third alternative condition. This is the enclave economy associated with immigrant-owned firms. While most immigrant enterprises are samll, competitive ones, enclave workers show distinct characteristics, including a significant return to past human capital investments. Such a return is absent among immigrant workers in the secondary labor market. Causes and implications of these findings are discussed.
It is well documented that immigrants are in better health upon arrival in the United States than their American counterparts but that this health advantage erodes over time. We study the potential determinants of this "healthy immigrant effect, " with a particular focus on the tendency of immigrants to converge to unhealthy American BMI levels. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, we find that average female and male immigrants enter the United States with BMIs that are approximately two and five percentage points lower than native-born women and men, respectively. Consistent with the declining health status of immigrants the longer they remain in the United States, we also find that female immigrants almost completely converge to American BMIs within 10 years of arrival, and men close a third of the gap within 15 years.
Objective. The rise in the volume and diversity of immigrants to the U.S. since 1960 has increased concerns about whether assimilation benefits educational achievement. To address this issue we evaluate the relative merits of three hypotheses regarding generational status and scholastic performance: (1) straight-line assimilation; (2) accommodation without assimilation; and (3) immigrant optimism. Methods. Specifically we use the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to examine the impact of generational status on three indicators of educational achievement: grades achievement test scores and college aspirations of 8th graders. Results. Overall our results are consistent with hypotheses (2) and (3) and suggest that behavioral differences between immigrant and native parents are essential ingredients in explaining the differential performance of immigrant and native youth. We also find however that the effects of generational status on scholastic outcomes differ by race and ethnic group such that parental nativity is most crucial for Asians and less so for Hispanics while childs birthplace is more decisive for educational achievement among blacks. Conclusions. Because foreign-born youth are at a slight disadvantage due to their limited English skills and because immigrant parents promote academic achievement second generation youth (i.e. native-born children of foreign- born parents) are best positioned to achieve scholastically. (authors)
This article analyzes how Central American immigrants in tenuous legal statuses experience current immigration laws. Based on ethnographic observations and over 200 interviews conducted between 1998 and 2009 with immigrants in Los Angeles and Phoenix and individuals in sending communities, this study reveals how the convergence and implementation of immigration and criminal law constitute forms of violence. Drawing on theories of structural and symbolic violence, the authors use the analytic category “legal violence” to capture the normalized but cumulatively injurious effects of the law. The analysis focuses on three central and interrelated areas of immigrants’ lives—work, family, and schooling—to expose how the criminalization of immigrants at the federal, state, and local levels is not only exclusionary but also generates violent effects for individual immigrants and their families, affecting everyday lives and long-term incorporation processes.
Since the 1980s, immigrant children and children of immigrant parentage have become the fastest growing and the most extraordinarily diverse segment of America's child population. Until the recent past, however, scholarly attention has focused on adult immigrants to the neglect of their offspring, creating a profound gap between the strategic importance of the new second generation and the knowledge about its socioeconomic circumstances. The purpose of this article is to pull together existing studies that bear directly or indirectly on children's immigrant experiences and adaptational outcomes and to place these studies into a general framework that can facilitate a better understanding of the new second generation. The article first describes the changing trends in the contexts of the reception the new second generation has encountered. The article then discusses the ways in which conventional theoretical perspectives about immigrant adaptation are being challenged and alternative frameworks are being developed. Thirdly, it examines empirical findings from recent research and evaluates their contribution to the sociology of immigration. Finally, it highlights the main conclusions from prior research and their theoretical and practical implications for future studies.
This in-depth study of the migration process is primarily concerned with recent Cuban and Mexican immigration into the United States. A theoretical overview of labor migration and a historical survey of immigration to the United States from 1890 to 1979 are first presented. The political and socioeconomic circumstances confronting the Mexicans and the Cubans in their home countries prior to migration are contrasted. Information is presented concerning place of residence social adaptation labor market participation and income for the two immigrant groups. These data are from interviews conducted at the time of the immigrants arrival in 1973 again in 1976 and finally in 1979. Detailed empirical findings are presented in 111 tables and an appendix. Particular attention is given to the Cuban enclave in Miami the economic and occupational mobility of Mexican immigrants immigrants perceptions of the United States and the social relationships of immigrants. Finally the theoretical and practical implications of the major trends observed in this study are summarized.
This study focuses on the direction of the interpersonal relations of immigrants. The immigrant can become interpersonally integrated within the "native" community, within his ethnic community, or within a group of immigrants of an ethnicity other than his own. The direction of the integration may be determined in part by some of the characteristics of the immigrant himself, for example, his educational background, his age, or his motivation for migrating. In this study attention was focused not on the individual characteristics but on the ability of the ethnic community in the receiving society to attract the immigrant into its social boundaries. It is found that this ability is largely dependent on the degree of institutional completeness of the ethnic community, but other characteristics of the community are also important. The findings indicate that more atttention should be given to the social organization of ethnic communities, particularly to the wide variation which exists among them in this respect.
In this article, the authors assess the still limited literature on domestic violence among immigrant women in major receiving countries so as to begin delineating a framework to explain how immigrant-specific factors exacerbate the already vulnerable position—as dictated by class, gender, and race—of immigrant women in domestic violence situations. First, a review of this scholarship shows that the incidence of domestic violence is not higher than it is in the native population but rather that the experiences of immigrant women in domestic violence situations are often exacerbated by their specific position as immigrants, such as limited host-language skills, isolation from and contact with family and community, lack of access to dignified jobs, uncertain legal statuses, and experiences with authorities in their origin countries. The authors then examine the various responses at the national and local community levels to this issue in receiving countries.
Self-employment is an important aspect of the immigrant experience in the labor market. Self-employment rates for immigrants exceed 15 percent for some national groups. This paper addresses three related questions on the self-employment experience of immigrants. First, how do self-employment rates of immigrants compare to those of native-born men? Second, is there an 'assimilationtt effect on the self-employment propensity of immigrants?
A portrayal of immigration and immigrant lives in the United States, this work, first published in 1990, is now published in a second edition which has been thoroughly expanded and updated to reflect current demographic, economic, and political realities, and the vertiginous pace of historical change in the post-Cold-War era. The authors have written two new chapters, infused the entire text with new data, and added a vivid array of new illustrations. The United States of the late twentieth century is a new nation of immigrants. Not since the peak years of immigration before World War I have so many newcomers made their way to America. During the 1980s about six million immigrants and refugees were legally admitted, and a sizable but uncertain number of others entered without legal status. This book offers a broad portrait of the multicultural people who comprise the latest wave of immigrants to the United States
This article uses 1990 census data to study the effects of immigrant inflows on occupation-specific labor market outcomes. I find that intercity mobility rates of natives and earlier immigrants are insensitive to immigrant inflows. However, occupation-specific wages and employment rates are systematically lower in cities with higher relative supplies of workers in a given occupation. The results imply that immigrant inflows over the 1980s reduced wages and employment rates of low-skilled natives in traditional gateway cities like Miami and Los Angeles by 1-3 percentage points. Copyright 2001 by University of Chicago Press.
BACKGROUND: Recognizing and appropriately treating mental health problems among new immigrants and refugees in primary care poses a challenge because of differences in language and culture and because of specific stressors associated with migration and resettlement. We aimed to identify risk factors and strategies in the approach to mental health assessment and to prevention and treatment of common mental health problems for immigrants in primary care. METHODS: We searched and compiled literature on prevalence and risk factors for common mental health problems related to migration, the effect of cultural influences on health and illness, and clinical strategies to improve mental health care for immigrants and refugees. Publications were selected on the basis of relevance, use of recent data and quality in consultation with experts in immigrant and refugee mental health. RESULTS: The migration trajectory can be divided into three components: premigration, migration and postmigration resettlement. Each phase is associated with specific risks and exposures. The prevalence of specific types of mental health problems is influenced by the nature of the migration experience, in terms of adversity experienced before, during and after resettlement. Specific challenges in migrant mental health include communication difficulties because of language and cultural differences; the effect of cultural shaping of symptoms and illness behaviour on diagnosis, coping and treatment; differences in family structure and process affecting adaptation, acculturation and intergenerational conflict; and aspects of acceptance by the receiving society that affect employment, social status and integration. These issues can be addressed through specific inquiry, the use of trained interpreters and culture brokers, meetings with families, and consultation with community organizations. INTERPRETATION: Systematic inquiry into patients' migration trajectory and subsequent follow-up on culturally appropriate indicators of social, vocational and family functioning over time will allow clinicians to recognize problems in adaptation and undertake mental health promotion, disease prevention or treatment interventions in a timely way.
This article examines the effects of an uncertain legal status on the lives of immigrants, situating their experiences within frameworks of citizenship/belonging and segmented assimilation, and using Victor Turner's concept of liminality and Susan Coutin's legal nonexistence. It questions blackandwhite conceptualizations of documented and undocumented immigration by exposing the gray area of liminal legality and examines how this inbetween status affects the individual's social networks and family, the place of the church in immigrants' lives, and the broader domain of artistic expression. Empirically, it draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix from 1989 to 2001. The article lends support to arguments about the continued centrality of the nationstate in the lives of immigrants.