Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parental Origins, Mixed Unions, and the Labor Supply of Second-Generation Women in the United States

  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

This study examines the joint impact of parental origins and partner choice on the employment behavior of second-generation women in the United States. We find that endogamy (choosing a first- or second-generation partner from the same national-origin group) is associated with lower labor supply among second-generation women, net of the effects of parental origin culture as proxied using the epidemiological approach to cultural transmission. Parental origin effects are mediated by education, but endogamy curtails economic activity regardless of educational attainment. The findings are robust for married women. Findings for women in cohabiting unions are more heterogeneous, however: cohabitation appears to mute some of the relationship between parental origin culture and women’s economic behavior. In particular, the negative relationship between endogamy and women’s labor supply does not hold for women in cohabiting unions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Fernández (2011:489–490) described this as an epidemiological approach in cultural economics because the focus is on the incidence and spread of cultural norms and behaviors. As Polavieja (2015:168) reported, “[T]he central tenet of these epidemiological approaches is to exploit the portability of culture to identify its exogenous impact on economic outcomes.”

  2. We use the CPS unique person identifier when available to identify the first observation on each individual. In years for which we do not have access to a unique identifier, we include only observations in the first four rotation groups.

  3. Including members of the 2.5-generation results in slightly attenuated coefficients on key measures, but the larger sample size also provides additional power. The downward bias is similar for U.S.-born mothers and U.S.-born fathers.

  4. A contemporaneous measure of FLFP produces similar results to those we present, an indicator of the slow pace of cultural change. Correlations between contemporary and lagged measures range between 0.75–0.90.

  5. We collapse detailed race classifications into the census race categories used prior to 2003 and added categories for Hispanics. We prioritize black and Hispanic identities first, followed by Asian or Pacific Islander. The resulting categories are non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, nonblack Hispanic, black Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander.

  6. We use linear interpolation to fill missing values, and we smooth all local population data using three-year moving averages.

  7. Asian ethnicity was first reported in 2013.

References

  • Alba, R., & Foner, N. (2015). Mixed unions and immigrant-group integration in North America and Western Europe. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 662, 38–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alba, R., & Nee, V. (2003). Remaking the American mainstream: Assimilation and contemporary immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Alesina, A., & Giuliano, P. (2010). The power of the family. Journal of Economic Growth, 15, 93–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antecol, H. (2000). An examination of cross-country differences in the gender gap in labor force participation rates. Labour Economics, 7, 409–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackwell, D. L., & Lichter, D. T. (2004). Homogamy among dating, cohabiting, and married couples. Sociological Quarterly, 45, 719–737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D. (1992). The fertility of immigrant women: Evidence from high-fertility source countries. In G. J. Borjas & R. B. Freeman (Eds.), Immigration and the workforce: Economic consequences for the United States and source areas (pp. 93–134). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2007). Gender and assimilation among Mexican Americans. In G. J. Borjas (Ed.), Mexican immigration to the United States (pp. 57–106). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D., Kahn, L. M., Liu, A. Y.-H., & Papps, K. L. (2013). The transmission of women’s fertility, human capital, and work orientation across immigrant generations. Journal of Population Economics, 26, 405–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D., Kahn, L. M., & Papps, K. L. (2011). Gender, source country characteristics and labor market assimilation among immigrants. Review of Economics and Statistics, 93, 43–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgen, L., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2011). Coming of age in America’s finest city: Transitions to adulthood among children of immigrants in San Diego. In M. C. Waters, P. J. Carr, M. J. Kefalas, & J. Holdaway (Eds.), Coming of age in America: The transition to adulthood in twenty-first century America (pp. 133–168). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brines, J., & Joyner, K. (1999). The ties that bind: Principles of cohesion in cohabitation and marriage. American Sociological Review, 64, 333–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. K. (2006). Structural assimilation revisited: Mexican-origin nativity and cross-ethnic primary ties. Social Forces, 85, 75–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. L., Van Hook, J., & Glick, J. E. (2008). Generational differences in cohabitation and marriage in the US. Population Research and Policy Review, 27, 531–550.

  • Cotter, D., Hermsen, J. M., & Vanneman, R. (2011). The end of the gender revolution? Gender role attitudes from 1977 to 2008. American Journal of Sociology, 117, 259–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. (2001). Parental influences on the gendered division of housework. American Sociological Review, 66, 184–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, S. N., & Greenstein, T. N. (2009). Gender ideology: Components, predictors, and consequences. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 87–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donato, K. M., Piya, B., & Jacobs, A. (2014). The double disadvantage reconsidered: Gender, immigration, marital status, and global labor force participation in the 21st century. International Migration Review, 48, S335–S376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • England, P., Garcia-Beaulieu, C., & Ross, M. (2004). Women’s employment among blacks, whites, and three groups of Latinas: Do more privileged women have higher employment? Gender & Society, 18, 494–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feliciano, C., & Lanuza, Y. R. (2017). An immigrant paradox? Contextual attainment and intergenerational educational mobility. American Sociological Review, 82, 211–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández, R. (2011). Does culture matter? In J. Benhabib, A. Bisin, & M. O. Jackson (Eds.), Handbook of social economics (pp. 481–510). New York, NY: North Holland.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández, R., & Fogli, A. (2009). Culture: An empirical investigation of beliefs, work, and fertility. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 1(1), 146–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finseraas, H., & Kotsadam, A. (2017). Ancestry culture and female employment—An analysis using second-generation siblings. European Sociological Review, 33, 382–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood, S., King, M., Ruggles, S., & Warren, J. R. (2015). Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Current Population Survey: Version 4.0. [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

  • Folbre, N. (2012). For love and money. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foner, N. (1997). The immigrant family: Cultural legacies and cultural changes. International Migration Review, 31, 961–974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin, N. M. (2005). Gender role attitudes and the labour-market outcomes of women across OECD countries. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21, 416–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, K., & Hou, F. (2015). Source-country gender roles and the division of labor within immigrant families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77, 557–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furtado, D., & Theodoropoulos, N. (2010). Why does intermarriage increase immigrant employment? The role of networks. B. E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2527

  • Furtado, D., & Trejo, S. J. (2013). Interethnic marriages and their economic effects. In A. F. Constant & K. F. Zimmerman (Eds.), International handbook on the economics of migration (pp. 276–292). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldscheider, F., Bernhardt, E., & Lappegård, T. (2015). The gender revolution: A framework for understanding changing family and demographic behavior. Population and Development Review, 41, 207–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldscheider, F. K., & Waite, L. J. (1991). New families, no families? The transformation of the American home. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, M. M. (1964). Assimilation in American life: The role of race, religion, and national origins. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, F. J., Han, L., & Marlow, S. (2013). Like mother, like daughter? Analyzing maternal influences upon women’s entrepreneurial propensity. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37, 687–711.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenlees, C. S., & Sáenz, R. (1999). Determinants of employment of recently arrived Mexican immigrant wives. International Migration Review, 33, 354–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iceland, J. (2014). Portrait of America: The demographic perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, D. W., Schurery, S., & Shields, M. A. (2014). Maternal gender role attitudes, human capital investment, and labour supply of sons and daughters. Oxford Economic Papers, 66, 631–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, J. R., & Whittington, L. A. (1996). The labor supply of Latinas in the USA: Comparing labor force participation, wages, and hours worked with anglo and black women. Population Research and Policy Review, 15, 45–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalmijn, M., & Van Tubergen, F. (2010). A comparative perspective on intermarriage: Explaining differences among national-origin groups in the United States. Demography, 47, 459–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasinitz, P., Mollenkopf, J. H., Waters, M. C., & Holdaway, J. (2008). Inheriting the city: The children of immigrants come of age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kibria, N. (1997). The construction of “Asian American”: Reflections on intermarriage and ethnic identity among second-generation Chinese and Korean Americans. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 20, 523–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2015). The Asian American achievement paradox. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrer, E. L., & Nerlove, M. (1986). Female labor force behavior and fertility in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 181–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichter, D. T., Carmalt, J. H., & Qian, Z. (2011). Immigration and intermarriage among Hispanics: Crossing racial and generational boundaries. Sociological Forum, 26, 241–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, I.-S. (1997). Korean immigrant women’s challenge to gender inequality at home: The interplay of economic resources, gender, and family. Gender and Society, 11, 31–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (1993). American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meng, X., & Gregory, R. G. (2005). Intermarriage and the economic assimilation of immigrants. Journal of Labor Economics, 23, 135–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Min, P. G., & Kim, C. (2009). Patterns of intermarriages and cross-generational in-marriages among native-born Asian Americans. International Migration Review, 43, 447–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. (1962). Labor force participation of married women: A study of labor supply. In G. Lewis (Ed.), Aspects of labor economics: A report of the National Bureau of Economic Research (pp. 63–105). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moen, P., Erickson, M. A., & Dempster-McClain, D. (1997). Their mother’s daughters? The intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes in a world of changing roles. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 281–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montez, J. K., Sabbath, E., Glymour, M. M., & Berkman, L. F. (2014). Trends in work-family context among U.S. women by education level, 1976 to 2011. Population Research and Policy Review, 33, 629–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, V. K. (1988). A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 563–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, V. K. (1994). Women’s rising employment and the future of the family in industrial societies. Population and Development Review, 20, 293–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, V. K. (1997). Women’s employment and the gain to marriage: The specialization and trading model. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 431–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, J., & Myers, D. (2010). Intergenerational mobility in the post-1965 immigration era: Estimates by an immigrant generation cohort method. Demography, 47, 369–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, J., Nawyn, S. J., & Benetsky, M. J. (2015). Feminized intergenerational mobility without assimilation? Post-1965 U.S. immigrants and the gender revolution. Demography, 52, 1601–1626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrado, E. A., & Flippen, C. A. (2005). Migration and gender among Mexican women. American Sociological Review, 70, 606–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, O. (2001). Taking culture seriously: A framework and an Afro-American illustration. In L. E. Harrison & S. P. Huntington (Eds.), Culture matters: How values shape human progress (pp. 202–218). New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polavieja, J. G. (2015). Capturing culture: A new method to estimate exogenous cultural effects using migrant populations. American Sociological Review, 80, 166–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2014). Immigrant America: A portrait. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, K. D., & Johnson, D. L. (2003). Asian American women and racialized femininities: “Doing” gender across cultural worlds. Gender and Society, 17, 33–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian, Z., Glick, J., & Batson, C. (2012). Crossing boundaries: Nativity, ethnicity, and mate selection. Demography, 49, 651–675.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian, Z., & Lichter, D. T. (2007). Social boundaries and marital assimilation: Interpreting trends in racial and ethnic intermarriage. American Sociological Review, 72, 68–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. G. (2004). Cultural influences on immigrant women’s labor force participation: The Arab-American case. International Migration Review, 38, 52–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. G., & Cohen, P. N. (2007). One size fits all? Explaining U.S.-born and immigrant women’s employment across 12 ethnic groups. Social Forces, 85, 1713–1734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. G., & Oselin, S. (2008). Gender and the education-employment paradox in ethnic and religious contexts: The case of Arab Americans. American Sociological Review, 73, 296–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spain, D., & Bianchi, S. M. (1996). Balancing act. New York, NY: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starrels, M. E. (1992). Attitude similarity between mothers and children regarding maternal employment. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 91–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stier, H., & Tienda, M. (1992). Family, work and women: The labor supply of Hispanic immigrant wives. International Migration Review, 26, 1291–1313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, M. M. (2002). Two decades of family change: The shifting economic foundations of marriage. American Sociological Review, 67, 132–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran, V. C., & Valdez, N. M. (2017). Second-generation decline or advantage? Latino assimilation in the aftermath of the Great Recession. International Migration Review, 51, 155–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treas, J., & Tai, T.-o. (2012). Apron strings of working mothers: Maternal employment and housework in cross-national perspective. Social Science Research, 41, 833–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Putten, A. E., Dykstra, P. A., & Schippers, J. J. (2008). Just like mom? The intergenerational reproduction of women’s paid work. European Sociological Review, 24, 435–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Tubergen, F., Flap, H., & Maas, I. (2004). The economic incorporation of immigrants in 18 Western societies: Origin, destination, and community effects. American Sociological Review, 69, 704–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Y., & Gough, M. (2011). Ethnic enclaves and the earnings of immigrants. Demography, 48, 1293–1315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka, K., & McClelland, K. (1994). Earning the model-minority image: Diverse strategies of economic adaptation by Asian-American women. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 17, 79–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M., & Bankston, C. L., III. (1998). Growing up American: How Vietnamese children adapt to life in the United States. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF-SES-1637083 and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy. We thank Clem Brooks, Tom DiPrete, Jennifer C. Lee, the Indiana University Immigration Working Group, and the editors and several anonymous reviewers from Demography for helpful suggestions. The ideas expressed herein are those of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Ballantine Hall 702, 1020 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN, 47405-7103, USA

    Patricia A. McManus

  2. Office of Institutional Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78249, USA

    Lauren Apgar

Authors
  1. Patricia A. McManus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lauren Apgar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia A. McManus.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(PDF 69 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

McManus, P.A., Apgar, L. Parental Origins, Mixed Unions, and the Labor Supply of Second-Generation Women in the United States . Demography 56, 49–73 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0736-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0736-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation