Living Arrangements And Intergenerational Support Among Immigrant And Canadian Born Seniors PDF Download

This dissertation addresses the changing nature of American families, focusing specifically on immigrant extended families. Chapter 1 examines the reasons for these complex living arrangements. For many Americans, living with extended kin—non-nuclear family members—is a strategy used to mitigate economic disadvantage, provide support to family members at different life stages, or uphold cultural beliefs about filial responsibility. That racial and ethnic group differences persist after taking into account economic and demographic factors begs the question of whether extended living is always an option of last resort based on low socioeconomic status or needs during certain life stages. Research that points to cultural norms and behaviors provide clues as to how extended living arrangements are motivated by more than just economic or life stage necessities, but studies overlook how beliefs about the family change, especially through migration and assimilation processes. Analyzing 40 in-depth interviews with Northern California residents, including Asian and Latino immigrants and their descendants, this paper fills a gap in the literature by contributing empirical research that demonstrates how cultural beliefs are both durable and changing, and offers new ways of understanding how individuals understand and justify their living arrangements with kin. In particular, respondents use cultural scripts—narratives based on beliefs and behaviors from origin countries, migration experiences, or racial and ethnic groups—to explain their living situations. Cultural scripts reflect the durability of extended family arrangements that are informed by respondents’ home country beliefs and are reinforced by the immigrant experience. At the same time, cultural scripts are changing and situationally-bounded, depending on individuals’ economic circumstances and life stages. These findings contribute to the discussion on the changing nature of American families. Chapter 2 explores how immigrants and their children understand extended living arrangements, and how they engage in intergenerational cultural transmission. Immigrant families come from Asian and Latin American countries where living with extended kin is common, and for whom doubling up is an integration strategy in the United States. The extended family is an important site for observing intergenerational dynamics, especially as the older immigrant and younger native-born generations undergo acculturation. Drawing from 33 interviews with immigrant and native-born Asians and Latinos living in extended families, results indicate that older generation respondents view the extended family as a way of maintaining cohesion and transmitting cultural values to the younger generation. While younger generation respondents embrace coresidence, these American-born children view extended living differently, using bicultural narratives to explain their experiences. Both generations see living together as a cornerstone of the immigrant family experience; and yet, both acknowledge that it may also be an impediment to the younger generation’s future upward mobility. These findings illustrate how the younger generation, embedded in dual and in some ways competing ideological contexts, must navigate and balance demands to both family and self. Implications for assimilation theories, specifically selective assimilation, are discussed. Chapter 3 analyzes the consequences of extended living arrangements, in terms of labor force participation. Living arrangements have grown more complex in recent years as families continue to adapt to structural changes resulting from the economic recession. In the face of increasing financial uncertainty and occupational instability, extended family arrangements—living with non-nuclear members—are an important support mechanism. Although research has examined complex living arrangements among recent migrants, it is not clear how these family structures are related to the economic assimilation of immigrant descendants. Using 1996-2015 Current Population Survey (CPS) data, this paper examines how immigrant generation and family structure work in concert to shape individuals’ labor force participation. In extended families with shared support, members may be better able to engage in the labor market compared to families where support is unequal, and individuals in immigrant families may be more likely to engage in providing support amongst each other compared to individuals in native-born families. Findings indicate that Hispanics, Asians, blacks and whites in extended families have different labor force participation and employment outcomes, and that extended living does not operate similarly across generations or among race groups.