Educational attainment of 1.5 immigrant generation and divergence in the timing of childbearing

Sam Hyun Yoo, Arizona State University

As the proportion of foreign-born population to overall population has increased, the fertility of immigrants, particularly Hispanic immigrants, has received a lot of attention in the US. In general, the fertility of immigrants is affected by the fertility norms and behaviors of a dominant society in the country of destination. Research focused on immigrants’ fertility demonstrates that in the long-term perspective the fertility of Hispanic immigrants converged into that of non-Hispanic whites in the US, supporting assimilation hypothesis. Despite clear evidence for assimilation, the question still remains whether the process of fertility assimilation is identical by social status. In addition, most studies on immigrant fertility focused on only the ‘quantum’ of fertility and did not give much attention to the ‘tempo’ of fertility. With recently released data sets, the Current Population Survey and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines whether immigrants’ fertility has similar assimilation patterns across social status in the US. Examining the fertility of 1.5 immigrant Hispanic women helps reduce migration-related issued mentioned in the previous studies, such as selectivity, the nature of migration, and data artifact. Focusing on educational attainment, this study analyzes the timing of first birth, comparing immigrant and non-immigrant women. To be specific, compared to non-immigrant women, whether the acquisition of higher education accelerates or delays the timing of first birth for immigrant Hispanic women is tested. The timing of first birth is critical to understand the dynamics of fertility behavior as well as the tempo of immigrant fertility. Given the diversified immigration flows in the US and Europe, the results of this study provide empirical evidence for the dynamics of immigrant fertility assimilation.