Skip to main content
Log in

Nativity, duration of residence and the life course pattern of extended family living in the USA

  • Published:
Population Research and Policy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent changes in US immigration policy anddomestic welfare policies affecting immigrants haveled to concerns that families will face greaterpressure to provide for extended family members.Extended family households are important resources fornew immigrants to the USA and an integral part of theadaptive strategy of immigrants. This paper examinesthe competing roles of duration of residence in theUSA, aging and changes over time in explainingincreases in extended family living between 1980 and1990. The results from a pooled sample of 1980 and1990 Census data indicate that recent arrivals aremore likely to share households with extended kin butit is older immigrants who face an increasedlikelihood of such coresidence over time. Multinomiallogistic regression analysis demonstrates that thelife course pattern of coresidence remains whenchanges in socioeconomic status are controlled. Theresults suggest that policy changes limiting publicfunds available to new arrivals will have a largerimpact on families sponsoring older family members.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angel, R. & Tienda, M. (1982). Determinants of extended household structure: cultural pattern or economic need?, American Journal of Sociology 87: 1360–1383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biddlecom, A. E. (1994). Immigration and coresidence in the United States since 1960. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the Population Association of America, Miami, Florida.

  • Blank, S. & Torrecilha, R. S. (1998). Understanding the living arrangements of Latino immigrants: a life course approach, International Migration Review 32(1): 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borjas, G. J. (1994). The economics of immigration, Journal of Economic Literature 32(4): 1667–1717.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, M. (1991). Immigration and living arrangements: elderly women in Canada, International Migration Review 25(1): 4–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burr, J. & Mutchler. J. E. (1993). Ethnic living arrangements: cultural convergence or cultural manifestation, Social Forces 72(1): 169–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chavez, L. R. (1990). Coresidence and resistance: strategies for survival among undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States, Urban Anthropology 19(1-2): 31–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Census of Population and Housing (1990). Public Use Microdata Samples U.S. [machine readable data files]. Prepared by the Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC: The Bureau [producer and distributor], 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooney, T. M. & Uhlenberg, P. (1992). Support from parents over the life course: the adult child's perspective, Social Forces 71(1): 63–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ermisch, J. F. & Overton, E. (1985). Minimal household units: a new approach to the analysis of household formation, Population Studies 39: 33–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Espenshade, Th. J., Baraka, J. L. & Huber, G. A. (1998). Implications of the 1996 welfare and immigration reform acts for US immigration, Population and Development Review 23(4): 769–801.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glenn, N. D. (1977) Cohort analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glick, J. E., Bean, F. D. & Van Hook, J. V. W. (1997). Diverging trends in family/household structure among US immigrants and natives: comparisons over two decades, Journal of Marriage and the Family 59(1): 177–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glick, J. E. & Van Hook, J. V. W. (1998). Race and ethnic differences in the transition to extended family living among older adults in the United States. Paper presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Chicago, Illinois.

  • Goldscheider, F. K. & Goldscheider, C. (1991). The intergenerational flow of income: family structure and the status of black Americans, Journal of Marriage and the Family 53: 499–508.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldscheider, F. K. & Waite, L. J. (1991) New families, no families: the transformation of the American home. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, M. M. (1964). Assimilation in American life: the role of race, religion and national origins. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, L. (1991). Secondary earner strategies and family poverty: immigrant-native differentials, 1960-1980, International Migration Review 25(1): 113–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramarow, E. A. (1995). The elderly who live alone in the United States: historical perspectives on household change, Demography 32(3): 335–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landale, N. S. (1997). Immigration and the family: an overview, in: A. Booth, A. C. Crouter & N. Landale (eds.), Immigration and the family: research and policy on US immigrants. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S. (1990). Social structure, household strategies, and the cumulative causation of migration, Population Index 56(1): 3–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalowski, M. (1987). Adjustment of immigrants in Canada: methodological possibilities and its implications, International Migration 25(1): 21–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moen, P. & Wethington, E. (1992). The concept of family adaptive strategies, Annual Review of Sociology 18: 233–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, D. & Lee, S.W. (1996). Immigration cohorts and residential overcrowding in southern California, Demography 33: 51–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Governors' Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, and American Public Welfare Association (1996). Analysis of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

  • Ram, M. & Wong, R. (1994). Covariates of household extension in rural India and change over time, Journal of Marriage and the Family 56: 853–864.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles, S. (1987). Prolonged connections: the rise of the extended family in nineteenthcentury England and America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rumbaut, R. G. (1997). Ties that bind: immigration and immigrant families in the United States, in: A. Booth, A. C. Crouter & N. Landale (eds.), Immigration and the family: research and policy on US Immigrants. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Hook, J. (1998). Pre-reform assessments of SSI eligibility and participation among elderly non-citizens. Paper presented at ‘Future Demographic Trends and their Potential Effects on Supplemental Security Income’, Academic Symposium sponsored by Howard University School of Social Work and Social Security Administration Office of Policy, Washington, DC.

  • Wilmoth, J. M., DeJong, G. F. & Himes, C. L. (1994). Living arrangements among elderly immigrants in the United States. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University, Populationn Research Institute, Working paper Series, No. 94-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, D. A. (1984). Kin availability and the living arrangements of older women, Social Science Research 13: 72–89.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Glick, J.E. Nativity, duration of residence and the life course pattern of extended family living in the USA. Population Research and Policy Review 19, 179–198 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006305620222

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006305620222

Navigation