Full House: Reasons for Coresidence Across Immigrant Generations

• In Event: 399 - Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Research Session. Issues in Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration

Abstract

Ethnic group culture is often used to explain why immigrants are more likely to live in extended households than whites, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. However, this view ignores that culture changes over time, especially through the process of migration and by how the second generation views their parents’ culture in an American context. Using 1994-2014 Current Population Survey (CPS) data in conjunction with qualitative interviews with 40 extended householders in northern California, I find that rates of coresidence are higher in this region compared to national averages, driven by first- and second-generation immigrants. I suggest that shared living arrangements are related to the migration process, and that cultural acceptance of coresidence makes it more likely that immigrants form or return to such arrangements as a result of economic or life stage needs. Asians and Hispanics explain their living arrangements as the result of cultural norms that reflect religious beliefs, gendered expectations, familial obligations and encourage coresidence as an economic coping strategy. For recent migrants, cultural norms validate coresidence as a way to deal with the challenges associated with U.S. integration. By comparison, the understanding of their parents’ immigrant culture, coupled with the strategic decision to save money post-recession, shapes second-generation Asians’ and Latinos’ choice of coresidence. For American whites and blacks that lack an immigrant cultural script to explain coresidence decisions, relying on kin support is framed through a lens of personal or economic struggles.

Author

• Emerald Thai Han Nguyen, University of California Davis