Full Citation

Title: Intergenerational Transmission of Culture among First- and Second-Generation Immigrants: The Case of Age at First Birth and Nonmarital Childbirth

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2020

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DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.3727042

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Abstract: This paper uses immigration as a semi-natural experiment to investigate the in-tergenerational transmission of culture. The culture is proxied by rates of nonmarital fertility and age at the first birth in the immigrant's home-country. Using the Current Population Survey, Decennial Censuses, and American Community Survey data covering the years 1970-2020, we find that average outcomes in the home-country can explain a statistically significant portion of immigrants' behavior. Conditional on the individual, family, and home-country economic and demographic controls, a 1 percent increase in average rates of nonmarital fertility in mother's country of birth is associated with a 0.14 percentage points increase in the likelihood of nonmarital birth among second-generation women. A one year increase in age at first birth in mother's birthplace leads to 0.11 years increase in age at first birth among second-generations. Cohort analysis suggests that the intergenerational links are weaker among young cohorts and become smaller for recent cohorts. The results show that there are cultural factors associated with nonmarital fertility and age at the first birth that can be transmitted from one generation to the next.

Url: https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3727042

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Authors: NoghaniBehambari, Hamid; Tavassoli, Nahid; Noghani, Farzaneh

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Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Migration and Immigration

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