Search

Objective. This article analyzes differences in the probability of receiving AFDC and SSI transfer payments between immigrant country-of-origin subgroups and natives. Methods. The article develops new estimates of AFDC and SSI recipiency using 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census data, decomposes interdecade changes in recipiency levels into size and rate components, and assesses the extent to which the observed nativity differences derive from nativity differences in sociodemographic and economic characteristics. Results. Over the decade, the overall immigrant/native differential in public assistance usage rises, primarily because of AFDC increases among immigrants and AFDC decreases among natives. The rise in immigrant AFDC recipiency, in turn, is attributable to increased sizes of immigrant country-of-origin groups with above-average rates of U.S. welfare recipiency, namely, Asian refugees and Mexicans and Central Americans, rather than from increased recipiency within these groups. When the influence of other factors on recipiency is controlled, however, the results show that immigrants are less likely than comparable natives to receive AFDC in both years. While this also holds true for SSI recipiency in 1979, in 1989 Asian refugees and, to a lesser extent, Mexican and Central American immigrants, are more likely than statistically equivalent natives to receive SSI. Conclusions. In comparison with results that are not disaggregated by country of origin and type of welfare received, these results imply that targeted programs rather than blanket immigration policy reforms might be needed.

Objective. The general goals of this paper are to try to explain not only why recent migration flows to the United States have come to be negatively perceived, but also why they appear increasingly to be seen as violating the prevailing sense of social contract. Methods. In order to accomplish these objectives, we analyze recent changes in the volume and character of four migration flows to the United States and assess changes in the social, demographic, and economic contexts in which they have occurred. Results. (1) Migration flows to the country have been increasing significantly and are beginning to diversify the racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. population; (2) wage stagnation and uncertainty about employment security continue as features of the economic context within which immigrants arrive; and (3) recent substantial increases in interracial and interethnic marriage indicate not only the current and future blurring of boundaries between U.S. racial and ethnic groups, but also the resilience and growth of levels of racial and ethnic tolerance in the country. Conclusions. Devising immigration policies that are fair as well as sensitive to their environmental, developmental, trade, and foreign-policy implications may prove difficult unless the public sense of economic security increases enough to strengthen what appears to be an increasingly fragile sense of social contract.

A study examined how shifts in immigration volume and composition have aided in the increase in the number of US citizens living in extended family households and in the broadening chasm between immigrants and natives. Findings revealed that immigration is only partially accountable for greater extended-living arrangements in the total population. However, the widening immigrant-native differential during the 1980s was the result of greater horizontally extended households among immigrants, primarily among Mexican, Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants.

This article examines how processes of socioeconomic and cultural incorporation affect marital-disruption patterns among Mexican-origin persons in the U.S. in comparison to non-Hispanic whites and African Americans. The results, which are based mainly on recent National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, indicate that, once other variables are controlled, the correlation of level of education with marital disruption among U.S. native Mexican Americans is negative and similar in level to that of non-Hispanic whites. However, the correlation of educational level with marital disruption among Mexican immigrants is both positive and lower than that of other groups. It is argued that these results do not support the idea that cultural familism explains Mexican-origin marital-disruption patterns, nor the idea that segmented assimilation processes exert influence on marital disruption, but rather the idea that socioeconomic and cultural incorporation interact in their effects on marital variables., This article examines patterns of marital disruption in the Mexican-origin population of the U.S., thereby focusing on a pivotal dimension of postwar marital and family change (McLanahan & Casper 1995) [...]

Policy relevant social and economic research that involves comparing rates of public assistance receipt among various groups must rely extensively on the U.S. Census Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) for reasons of sample size. For instance, the PUMS is the only data source that contains a sufficient number of cases to examine patterns of welfare receipt among immigrant groups disaggregated by national origin. The usage of census data, however, suffers two drawbacks. One is that the PUMS does not ascertain the program (AFDC, SSI, General Assistance) from which recipients report having received payments. The other is that little is known about the accuracy of census measures of public assistance receipt. This paper develops and presents a procedure to estimate AFDC and SSI receipt based on the correspondence between the recipient's characteristics and the eligibility criteria for these programs. The research also assesses the accuracy of estimates of the number of persons receiving any kind of cash public assistance (the presently available measure), as well as the number receiving AFDC and SSI (the new measures presented here). The results indicate that census data provide very satisfactory assessments of levels of SSI usage and assessments of levels of AFDC usage that are adequate for some analytic purposes.