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Title: 'Fostered by Family Policy:' The Influence of Family Composition on the Internal Migration of the Adult Children of Immigrants and Native Born Americans, 1880-1940
Citation Type: Conference Paper
Publication Year: 2002
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Abstract: This paper explores the reasons why internal migration rates differ so significantly between the children of immigrants and of native born migrants in the United States between 1880 and 1940 . Social structures place differential constraints on individuals depending on personal characteristics, such as position in the life cycle, socio-economic status, kinship patterns, and minority or ethnic group participation. Different stages of family development also have been found to influence migration. It follows, then, that family composition differences between immigrants and the native born would also contribute to differences in internal migration rates in their native-born children. Using census microdata samples from the IPUMS, this paper describes differences in family structure among the adult children of native born and immigrant parents and then incorporates these family composition variables in a logistic regression analysis to test their effect on the migratory behavior of the adult children of the three groups. Significant differences were found among the three groups on family composition measures but between-group differences showed the opposite effect: For three of the family composition variables the differences between non-migrant and migrant mother groups was relatively small while the difference between them and the immigrant mother group was strikingly large. This suggests significant differences in the family composition between the children of immigrants and the children of native born. The children of immigrant mothers had larger family sizes overall but fewer extended kin when own children, parents and siblings are excluded. When measuring differences in family characteristics, the between-group differences based on own migration behavior are greater than within-group differences on maternal migration history. Within-group differences by maternal migration history on family composition characteristics are smaller for migrants than for non-migrants.
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Authors: Hall, Patricia Kelly
Conference Name: ESSHC Conference
Publisher Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Family and Marriage, Migration and Immigration
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