The Living Arrangements of Children of Immigrants

Abstract

Children of immigrants are a rapidly growing part of the U.S. child population. Their health, development, educational attainment, and social and economic integration into the nation's life will play a defining role in the nation's future. Nancy Landale, Kevin Thomas, and Jennifer Van Hook explore the challenges facing immigrant families as they adapt to the United States, as well as their many strengths, most notably high levels of marriage and family commitment. The authors examine differences by country of origin in the human capital, legal status, and social resources of immigrant families and describe their varied living arrangements, focusing on children of Mexican, Southeast Asian, and black Caribbean origin. Problems such as poverty and discrimination may be offset for children to some extent by living, as many do, in a two-parent family. But the strong parental bonds that initially protect them erode as immigrant families spend more time in the United States and are swept up in the same social forces that are increasing single parenthood among American families. The nation, say the authors, should pay special heed to how this aspect of immigrants' Americanization heightens the vulnerability of their children. One risk factor for immigrant families is the migration itself, which sometimes separates parents from their children. Another is the mixed legal status of family members. Parents' unauthorized status can mire children in poverty and unstable living arrangements. Sometimes unauthorized parents are too fearful of deportation even to claim the public benefits for which their children qualify. A risk factor unique to refugees, such as Southeast Asian immigrants, is the death of family members from war or hardship in refugee camps. The authors conclude by discussing how U.S. immigration policies shape family circumstances and suggest ways to alter policies to strengthen immigrant families. Reducing poverty, they say, is essential. The United States has no explicit immigrant integration policy or programs, so policy makers must direct more attention and resources toward immigrant settlement, especially ensuring that children have access to the social safety net.

Changing Lone Parents, Changing Life Courses

“…The number of lone mothers migrating alone with children was limited. In addition, most migrant groups were in relatively stable unions so that, also after migration, in most Western countries, the likelihood of entering lone motherhood for immigrant women was lower than for the native populations (Landale et al 2011;Milewski and Kulu 2014). Yet, with the feminisation of migration flows (Lutz 2007) and with the diffusion of divorce and its acceptance in most sending countries as well as among the second generations in the receiving countries (Andersson et al 2015), studies on immigrant lone parents are much needed.…”

“…Under such circumstances, the literature on lone mothers in minority groups suggests that women may then put motherhood before marriage (Edin and Kefalas 2005;Lichter et al 1992;McLaughlin et al 1992). Another specific pathway to lone parenthood for immigrants may be related to the process of migration itself: an immigrant woman may enter the destination country while her male partner stays behind, either because he is entrapped in civil wars or because of time-lasting employment obligations in the country of origin (Landale et al 2011).…”

Afro-Caribbean Mothers in the U.S.: An Exploratory Study From a Transnational Feminist Perspective

“…Family support has been recorded as the backbone of immigrant families' survival because the exchange of resources buffers the impacts of immigration stressors (Chioneso, 2008). For example, by providing childcare or helping with household tasks, extended-family members alleviate economic pressure that might be facing a new immigrant family (Landale et al, 2011). These findings are consistent with previous research on Afro-Caribbean families that describe extended family and fictive kin as playing a large role in successful parenting (McAdoo, Younge, & Getahun, 2012).…”

Children in Immigrant Families

“…Although immigrant families tend to have a higher proportion of 2-parent families [104], 24% of parents are undocumented but only 6% of children are such; this puts approximately 1 in 4 families at risk for parental loss, even though the children in these families are 94% US citizens or have legal status. Therefore, immigration policy can potentially leave these US children in a single-parent environment, with its subsequent family disruption and poorer child outcomes.…”