IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v39y2018i40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Child poverty across immigrant generations in the United States, 1993–2016: Evidence using the official and supplemental poverty measures

Author

Listed:
  • Brian Thiede

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • Matthew M. Brooks

    (Pennsylvania State University)

Abstract

Background: Recent increases in ethno-racial diversity in the United States are paralleled by growing representation of first- and second-generation immigrants, especially among children. Socioeconomic inequalities along the lines of immigrant generation, race, and ethnicity suggest such demographic changes may result in greater disparities among recent, more-diverse cohorts of children. Objective: Describe poverty rates among US children across five immigrant generation groups, using the US government’s official poverty measure (OPM) and a supplemental poverty measure (SPM), which accounts for government transfers and costs of living. Methods: Using data from the Current Population Survey and historical SPM estimates from 1993–2016, we describe trends in child poverty, stratified by immigrant generation. We compare estimates of inter-generational differences and temporal changes based on the OPM and SPM, and we conduct stratified analyses for Hispanic and Asian children. Results: We find persistent differences in poverty rates between immigrant generations. First-generation non-citizens and second-generation children with two foreign-born parents have consistently higher poverty rates than other generations, between which there are minimal disparities. Differences between OPM- and SPM-based estimates suggest public supports and costs of living have differential welfare effects across groups. Contribution: We provide a historical record of child poverty differentials across immigrant generations, which have been understudied. Results demonstrate heterogeneity in the economic status of first- and second-generation children, which would be masked using other immigrant-generation typologies. Differences in OPM- and SPM-based measures raise questions about inter-generational disparities in public supports and costs of living, and stratified results highlight the intersection of race, ethnicity, and nativity as axes of inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Thiede & Matthew M. Brooks, 2018. "Child poverty across immigrant generations in the United States, 1993–2016: Evidence using the official and supplemental poverty measures," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(40), pages 1065-1080.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:39:y:2018:i:40
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.40
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/40/39-40.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.40?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria-Elena Trinidad Young & Gabriela León-Pérez & Christine R. Wells & Steven P. Wallace, 2018. "More Inclusive States, Less Poverty Among Immigrants? An Examination of Poverty, Citizenship Stratification, and State Immigrant Policies," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 205-228, April.
    2. Kenneth M. Johnson & Daniel T. Lichter, 2016. "Diverging Demography: Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Contributions to U.S. Population Redistribution and Diversity," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(5), pages 705-725, October.
    3. John Iceland & Daniel Weinberg & Lauren Hughes, 2014. "The residential segregation of detailed Hispanic and Asian groups in the United States: 1980-2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(20), pages 593-624.
    4. Stefan Jonsson & Michael Rendall, 2004. "The fertility contribution of Mexican immigration to the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 129-150, February.
    5. Erin R. Hamilton & Jodi Berger Cardoso & Robert A. Hummer & Yolanda C. Padilla, 2011. "Assimilation and emerging health disparities among new generations of U.S. children," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(25), pages 783-818.
    6. Mark Hayward & Bridget Gorman, 2004. "The long arm of childhood: The influence of early-life social conditions on men’s mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 87-107, February.
    7. Barrett Lee & Michael Martin & Stephen Matthews & Chad Farrell, 2017. "State-level changes in US racial and ethnic diversity, 1980 to 2015: A universal trend?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(33), pages 1031-1048.
    8. Daniel Lichter, 2013. "Integration or Fragmentation? Racial Diversity and the American Future," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 359-391, April.
    9. Liana Fox & Christopher Wimer & Irwin Garfinkel & Neeraj Kaushal & Jane Waldfogel, 2015. "Waging War on Poverty: Poverty Trends Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 567-592, June.
    10. Carolyn J. Heinrich, 2018. "Presidential Address: “A Thousand Petty Fortresses”: Administrative Burden in U.S. Immigration Policies and Its Consequences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 211-239, March.
    11. Daniel T. Lichter & Zhenchao Qian & Martha L. Crowley, 2005. "Child Poverty Among Racial Minorities and Immigrants: Explaining Trends and Differentials," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(s1), pages 1037-1059, December.
    12. Gordon F. Jong & Deborah Graefe & Chris Galvan & Stephanie Howe Hasanali, 2017. "Unemployment and Immigrant Receptivity Climate in Established and Newly Emerging Destination Areas," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(2), pages 157-180, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. Tom Mueller & Matthew M. Brooks & José D. Pacas, 2022. "Cost of Living Variation, Nonmetropolitan America, and Implications for the Supplemental Poverty Measure," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1501-1523, August.
    2. Mueller, Tom, 2020. "The poverty balancing equation: Expressing poverty of place as a population process," SocArXiv ws3gd, Center for Open Science.
    3. Regina S. Baker & David Brady & Zachary Parolin & Deadric T. Williams, 2022. "The Enduring Significance of Ethno-Racial Inequalities in Poverty in the U.S., 1993–2017," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1049-1083, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kenneth M. Johnson & Daniel T. Lichter, 2016. "Diverging Demography: Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Contributions to U.S. Population Redistribution and Diversity," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(5), pages 705-725, October.
    2. Albert Sabater & Gemma Catney, 2019. "Unpacking Summary Measures of Ethnic Residential Segregation Using an Age Group and Age Cohort Perspective," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(1), pages 161-189, February.
    3. Pac, Jessica & Nam, Jaehyun & Waldfogel, Jane & Wimer, Chris, 2017. "Young child poverty in the United States: Analyzing trends in poverty and the role of anti-poverty programs using the Supplemental Poverty Measure," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 35-49.
    4. Daniel T. Lichter & Kenneth M. Johnson, 2020. "A Demographic Lifeline? Immigration and Hispanic Population Growth in Rural America," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(5), pages 785-803, October.
    5. Daniel T. Lichter & James P. Ziliak, 2017. "The Rural-Urban Interface: New Patterns of Spatial Interdependence and Inequality in America," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 672(1), pages 6-25, July.
    6. Elizabeth Ackert & Stephanie Potochnick, 2024. "Health Care Access Among Children in Latinx Families Across U.S. Destinations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(5), pages 1-44, October.
    7. Eileen Díaz McConnell & Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz, 2023. "Exploring Popular Sentiments of U.S. Ethnoracial Demographic Change: A Research Brief," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(6), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Elizabeth Ackert & Robert Crosnoe & Tama Leventhal, 2019. "New Destinations and the Early Childhood Education of Mexican-Origin Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1607-1634, October.
    9. Daniel T. Lichter & Domenico Parisi & Michael C. Taquino, 2015. "Spatial Assimilation in U.S. Cities and Communities? Emerging Patterns of Hispanic Segregation from Blacks and Whites," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 660(1), pages 36-56, July.
    10. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    11. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d69bf47785bc4154a4e184aa5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Liliya Leopold & Thomas Leopold, 2016. "Education and Health across Lives and Cohorts: A Study of Cumulative Advantage in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 835, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Shen, Ke & Zeng, Yi, 2014. "Direct and indirect effects of childhood conditions on survival and health among male and female elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 207-214.
    14. Anna Tegunimataka, 2023. "The Health of Immigrant Youth in Denmark: Examining Immigrant Generations and Origin," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 659-694, June.
    15. Sarah K. Bruch & Janet C. Gornick & Joseph van der Naald, 2020. "Geographic Inequality in Social Provision: Variation across the US States," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 499-527, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Marianne Bitler & Hilary Hoynes & Elira Kuka, 2017. "Child Poverty, the Great Recession, and the Social Safety Net in the United States," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 358-389, March.
    17. Bradley Hardy & Timothy Smeeding & James P. Ziliak, 2018. "The Changing Safety Net for Low-Income Parents and Their Children: Structural or Cyclical Changes in Income Support Policy?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 189-221, February.
    18. Jo Mhairi Hale, 2017. "Cognitive Disparities: The Impact of the Great Depression and Cumulative Inequality on Later-Life Cognitive Function," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2125-2158, December.
    19. Mäkinen, Tomi & Laaksonen, Mikko & Lahelma, Eero & Rahkonen, Ossi, 2006. "Associations of childhood circumstances with physical and mental functioning in adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1831-1839, April.
    20. Kathryn Anderson & James Foster & David Frisvold, 2004. "Investing in Health: The Long-Term Impact of Head Start," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0426, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; children; immigration; integration; racial/ethnic differences; diversity; United States of America; Hispanic; population;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:39:y:2018:i:40. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.