UC Irvine

Scholars argue that migration has short and long-term consequences on family life. Although investigators have documented reconfigured household dynamics subsequent to migration, which, in turn, generate immigrant-native differences in family dynamics, it is unclear how immigrant households differ from their native-born counterparts in one crucial dimension: the provision of resources to children. To address this gap, I examine who provides three different resources – academic, emotional, and financial – to children throughout the life course. To examine academic and emotional resources, I utilize the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 data. I find that, relative to White children in native-born households, both Asian and Latino children in immigrant households are more likely to rely on siblings rather than their parents for homework help. In addition, I find that, compared to Whites with native-born parentage, Latino children of immigrants are less likely to receive emotional support from parents and more likely to receive it from adult relatives, and Asian children of immigrants are less likely to receive emotional support from parents and more likely to receive it from adult relatives and adults at school. Further, children of immigrants are also more likely to receive emotional support from siblings compared to their native-born counterparts. Later on in the life course, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, I find that White young adults living in native-born families are more likely to exhibit monetary independence (not giving or receiving money from parents), African Americans are more likely to exhibit monetary interdependence (both giving and receiving monetary support) and children of immigrants are more likely to exhibit child-to-parent assistance (providing monetary assistance to their parents without receiving it in return) compared to each other. Although parental constraints – including those associated with socioeconomic status, English language proficiency, time availability, and institutional know-how – explain some of the immigrant-native differential in who provides resources to children, I also suggest that children of immigrants engage in an immigrant bargain with their parents, which spurs them to provide resources to their household members, including siblings and parents. This adaptation strategy encourages children of immigrants to become productive and contributive members of their (parents’) households.