Diverse Paths in Acculturation among US Immigrants: A Latent Class Analysis

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Abstract

This study explored the multidimensionality in immigration study and empirically identified the diverse trajectories of acculturation experience among first-generation Latino and Asian immigrants in the U.S. The 2003 New Immigrant Survey were analyzed using latent class analysis in a sample of 2,434 Asian and 2,677 Latino immigrants aged 18 and older. We used a series of variables relevant to language use and immigration experience as indicators of acculturation to model the latent classes. Our results have revealed distinctive patterns of these two immigrant groups. Specifically, we identified three distinctive Asian immigrant groups: separated, assimilated, and integrated. For Latino immigrants, we identified separated, less-assimilated, and integrated. The findings point to the needs to acknowledge the heterogeneity in immigrants of different origins as well as in the experience within the same origin.

Authors

• Kelin Li, California State University, Dominguez Hills

• Jackson Lennon, Diamond Bar High School