Immigration and the Family

This book documents the third in a series of annual symposia on family issues--the National Symposium on International Migration and Family Change: The Experience of U.S. Immigrants--held at Pennsylvania State University. Although most existing literature on migration focuses solely on the origin, numbers, and economic success of migrants, this book examines how migration affects family relations and child development. By exploring the experiences of immigrant families, particularly as they relate to assimilation and adaptation processes, the text provides information that is central to a better understanding of the migrant experience and its affect on family outcomes. Policymakers and academics alike will take interest in the questions this book addresses: * Does the fact that migrant offspring get involved in U.S. culture more quickly than their parents jeopardize the parents' effectiveness in preventing the development of antisocial behavior? * How does the change in culture and language affect the cognitive development of children and youth? * Does exposure to patterns of family organizations, so prevalent in the United States (cohabitation, divorce, nonmarital childbearing), decrease the stability of immigrant families? * Does the poverty facing many immigrant families lead to harsher and less supportive child-rearing practices? * What familial and extra-familial conditions promote "resilience" in immigrant parents and their children? * Does discrimination, coupled with the need for rapid adaption, create stress that erodes marital quality and the parent-child bond in immigrant families? * What policies enhance or impede immigrant family links to U.S. institutions?

Nancy Landale, Alan Booth, Ann C. Crouter, Nancy S. Landale

Contents: Preface. Part I: Who Migrates, and How Does It Affect Family Outcomes?R.G. Rumbaut, Ties That Bind: Immigration and Immigrant Families in the United States. L. Jensen, Y. Chitose, Immigrant Generations. G. Jasso, Migration and the Dynamics of Family Phenomena. M.C. Waters, Immigrant Families at Risk: Factors That Undermine Chances for Success. Part II: How Does the Migration Experience Affect Child and Adolescent Development?C.G. Coll, K. Magnuson, The Psychological Experience of Immigration: A Developmental Perspective. L.M. Laosa, Research Perspectives on Constructs of Change: Intercultural Migration and Developmental Transitions. M.L. de Leon Siantz, Factors That Impact Development Outcomes of Immigrant Children. Part III: How Do Family Structure and Process Change Across Succeeding Generations?R. Buriel, T. De Ment, Immigration and Sociocultural Change in Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese American Families. C. Hirschman, Understanding Family Change Across Generations: Problems of Conceptualization and Research Design. N. Kibria, The Concept of "Bicultural Families" and Its Implications for Research on Immigrant and Ethnic Families. G.R. Sodowsky, E.W.M. Lai, Asian Immigrant Variables and Structural Models of Cross-Cultural Distress. Part IV: What Policies Enhance or Impede Immigrant Family Links to U.S. Institutions?M. Fix, W. Zimmermann, Immigrant Families and Public Policy: A Deepening Divide. S.M. Bianchi, Whither the 1950s? The Family and Macroeconomic Context of Immigration amd Welfare Reform in the 1990s. B.L. Lowell, Immigrant Integration and Pending Legislation: Observations on Empirical Projections. N.S. Landale, Immigration and the Family: An Overview.