Immigrants Raising Citizens: The Second Generation in the First Years of Life

1. Immigrants Raising Citizens: The Second Generation in the First Years of Life Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Harvard Graduate School of Education Baruch College, CUNY, April 2009 Thanks: Catherine Tamis-LeMonda, Ronit Kahana-Kalman, CRCDE researchers at NYU and Harvard, and the NSF, Russell Sage Foundation, and William T. Grant Foundation

2. Overview of Research Programs • Impact on children of efforts to improve the quality of early childhood care and education: • Cluster-randomized trial in Chile (Fundacion Oportunidad) • Regression-discontinuity study in Boston (IES) • Meta-analysis of policies and programs across prenatal period to age 5 (Buffett Early Childhood Fund) • Parental employment and child development • Low-wage workers in the US: welfare to work and antipoverty experiments • Parent work trajectories, parenting and child development in urban China • The development of young children in low-income immigrant families

3. Overview • Undocumented Status: An understudied factor in theories and studies of the second generation • Description of study sample and methods 3) Tales of Fujian and Puebla – mechanisms of how parent undocumented status could affect child development

4. Undocumented Status: An understudied factor in theories and studies of the second generation? • Description of study sample and methods 3) Tales of Fujian and Puebla – different mechanisms of how parent undocumented status could affect child development

5. Demographic Overview(Capps & Fix, 2005; Passel & Cohn, 2008) • Estimated 11.9 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. in 2008; 30% of foreign-born • 59% from Mexico • 22% other Latin Am • 12% Asia (principally China, India, Korea, Philippines) • Of all Mexican foreign-born 56% are unauthorized; of those in US for 10 years or less, 80-85% • Of Mexican unauthorized, estimated 25%-40% visa overstayers; rest (60%-75%) border crossers • No clear path to citizenship (Motomura, 2006) • Two-thirds of children of undocumented parents are U.S.-born (i.e., citizen children in “mixed-status” families)

6. An overlooked factor in studies of the second generation • Assimilation theories and the 2nd generation – citizenship and documentation part of theoretical frameworks, but emphasis on peer effects, community norms, neighborhood economic opportunity, intergroup contact. • Factors most studied in segmented assimilation of 2nd generation not as relevant to 0 to 3. • Transnational theories emphasize political, institutional and network participation across borders. • Both sets of theories: little empirical work on parent citizenship / documentation status and development of the 2nd generation.

7. Undocumented status and recent waves of immigration from Mexico and China in NY • Mexicans from Puebla / Guerrero / Mixteca region, Chinese from Fujian: Relatively early in waves of immigration to NY (Liang, 2001; Smith, 2006) • Most have arrived in the last 10-15 years • Numbers growing • Relatively high rates of disadvantage, undocumented status

8. Apparent reasons not to worry about this group • Recent immigrants: Lower levels of racial/ethnic discrimination • At school entry: MX and Asian children’s attentiveness and persistence higher than other groups of similar backgrounds; internalizing and externalizing no different (Crosnoe, 2006) • Our data: • Mexicans: lower economic hardship than Dominicans, African Americans • Mexicans: higher system justification (perceived fairness of US society as a whole) than African Americans or Dominicans (Godfrey, 2008) • Mexicans: US government more generous than MX re: children, families

9. Reasons to worry about this group • Non-citizens: higher food insecurity (Van Hook & Balistreri, 2006; Kalil & Chen, 2008) • Mexican children: low preschool enrollment (4-year olds: 55% in US vs. 80% in MX; Hernandez, Denton, & Macartney, 2007; Yoshikawa et al., 2007) • At school entry: MX’s lower on overall physical health, math scores, controlling for SES indicators (Crosnoe, 2006); lower on reading scores (Han, 2006) • Mexican adolescents: high dropout rates • Chinese adolescents: lower self-esteem, higher depression and social isolation relative to White, Black, and Latino counterparts in urban multi-ethnic schools (Fuligni; Qin, Way, & Mukherjee, 2008; Kao, 1999)

10. Early cognitive development • MX children at 24 months: Lower than African Americans on expressive language using Mullen Scales; lower than Dominicans on MacArthur Communication Inventory (each word asked in Spanish and English; difference due to English vocabulary of Dominican children); videotaped language in process • MX children at 36 months: Lower than African Americans on expressive language (by .66 SD) • Difference not explained by indicators of family structure, mother / father education, employment, occupational complexity; household earnings; # adults in household; # children in household; child sex, birth order; language(s) spoken at home

11. US frameworks of disadvantage and poverty may be inadequate • Traditional theories of disadvantage (poverty-based) or discrimination: don’t measure everyday experiences of incorporation or exclusion (might not be accompanied by perceptions of discrimination or exclusion) • Social exclusion theory: A more promising theory to inform research on this group (Alba, 2005; Burchardt, LeGrand, & Piachaud, 2002; Lenoir, 1974) • Indicators of social marginalization and disadvantage beyond poverty

12. Social exclusion isdistinct from poverty • Social exclusion applied to civic membership: • Low participation in and access to institutions and resources driven by citizenship status • Public – e.g., education, legal, health care, policy • Private – social institutions, organizations, networks • Not simply material disadvantage • Overlooked in US work on poverty and children’s development (Kamerman & Kahn, 2002; Micklewright, 2002) • EU: prominent in theory & policy (National Action Plans Against Poverty and Social Exclusion)

13. Research Question • What are everyday experiences as a parent that might be associated with being undocumented? • Are parents’ everyday experiences of being undocumented associated with very early development, controlling for indicators of SES?

14. Undocumented Status: An overlooked factor in theories and studies of the second generation? • Description of study sample and methods 3) Tales of Fujian and Puebla – different mechanisms of how parent undocumented status could affect child development

15. Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education • Aim – How do family, peers, schools, and parental employment influence child and adolescent development in multiple ethnic and immigrant groups in New York City? • 2 cohorts: birth (Tamis-LeMonda, Yoshikawa) and adolescent (Hughes and Way) • CRCDE birth cohort: 3 NYC hospitals serving Mexican, Dominican, Chinese, & U.S.-born African American • 374 mothers of newborn infants: • 114 African American (100% 2nd+ generation) • 113 Dominican (86% 1st generation) • 93 Mexican (100% 1st generation): (MX births > DR births for first time in NYC, 2000-2005) • 54 Chinese (100% 1st generation)

16. CRCDE Birth Cohort Study: Assessment Schedule • Baseline interviews with mothers in hospitals’ post-partum wards • Phone interviews at 1 month and 6 months • 14-, 24-, 36- and 52-mo home visits (2-3 hours): survey, videotaped observation of mothers and children, direct child assessment

17. CRCDE Qualitative Studies(Yoshikawa, Chaudry, Torres, Rivera) • Two studies (2003-2004 and 2005-2007): • Study I (prior to larger cohort recruitment) • Families with children between 9 and 36 months • Study II: stratified random subsample of birth cohort • Both studies: • 7-10 visits total per family • Study I: visits every 2-3 weeks • Study II: visits every 8-10 wks (child 9 to 30 months) • 6 semi-structured Interviews + participant observation (all visits) with extensive field notes • Transcription, translation • Combined N: 11 Dominican, 13 Mexican, 5 Chinese families

18. CRCDE Birth Cohort: Likely variation in undocumented status across groups Chinese and Mexicans: Highest proportions undocumented Dominicans: Moderate proportion African Americans: All U.S.-born Today: focus on CH, MX

19. African Americans in sample relative to African American concentration, 2000 Census

20. Mexicans in sample relative to Mexican concentration, 2000 Census

21. Chinese in sample relative to Chinese concentration, 2000 Census

22. Dominicans in sample relative to Dominican concentration, 2000 Census

23. Puebla and Fujian • Largest sending regions to New York City from MX and CN • Puebla – 7th highest in economic disadvantage among 31 states (2000 CONAPO index). • Fujian – one of the wealthier provinces; increasing inequality post-economic reforms (Liang, 2001) • Both groups: • Relatively large proportions of undocumented • Recent increases (since early 1990’s) in emigration to NYC • Chain migration; international smuggling operations • Remittances and economic development in sending regions • What about family life and implications for children’s development?

24. Undocumented Status: An understudied factor in theories and studies of the second generation? • Description of study sample and methods 3)Tales of Fujian and Puebla – different mechanisms of how parent undocumented status could affect child development

25. Ling

26. Ling and Guang • Ling, late 30’s and husband Wei, also late 30’s come to New York in late 1980’s • Met in early 1980’s at a tire factory in Fujian • Son: Guang, age 11 (2 younger kids as well) • Family of farmers; “I had nothing to do in the countryside.” • $28,000 (now upwards of $60,000-80,000) • Prayed to Stone Bamboo Mountain • Hardships of early crossings: mountain crossing to Thailand; thefts.

27. Guang to Fujian province • Sent Guang back to China: 2 months to 4 years • Remittances: ~ $1,500 a year. • Ling: Separation is why Guangis less close to her and husband than other 2 children. • US preschool teacher - “Did your dad and mom treat you nice?” “No – only my grandparents.” • Age 4 “Old enough to study. And he can attend preK.” • Theory of ability not effort: “I told my husband, I think we don’t have the talent; we didn’t have people who study in our last generation.” • Used to send Guang to Chinese shadow schooling – “But I am busy and sometimes lazy. I don’t think they could learn much there.”

28. CRCDE rates of sending back to home country in first 6 months • Chinese: 72% • Dominican: 22% • Mexican: 1%

29. Reasons for sending home

30. Changle County, Fujian • Primary sending county to US (others JP, AU / NZ, EU) • Airport in Changle: No accident! (Liang, 2001) • Hx of emigration: economic development post-1978 tied to foreign trade • Once chain migration starts, relative deprivation drives emigration. Remittances, fancy apartment buildings, returnees’ lavish spending • Those with no interest in leaving – mei chu xi [no great future]

31. Men who return • Male marriage market advantages: • Ling: “If they came back to the US and go back to get married, if they choose, the first ones they choose are very beautiful women. So many women, they put the women’s pictures there to let you choose. So they all wanted to come to the U.S. They almost all came. Like my family, there’s only my mom there.”

32. Mei – later in wave of Fujianese migration • Mei – arrival 10 yrs after Ling. Immediate family is almost all in US. • No extreme hardships, land crossings. • Parents farmers too: “When I asked her about her childhood she was ashamed and thought it worthless to talk about it. Because there was nothing special. Without toys she grew up hanging out with a group of children in the village.” • Life now in Fuzhou is so different – her cousin just had a newborn girl. After the birth her cousin stopped working. They hired a live-in nanny and bought their own house. “With a good job life in China it’s really better than here. You see we have to pay for such a living condition.”

39. Inscription on gate • 日射晓露华光万道金世界 • 月临XXX 映照千里玉乾坤 • The Sun shines upon morning dews reflecting a thousand rays in the gold world • The Moon shines upon XXXX reflecting thousands of miles in the jade universe • 美籍华人杨业准献身敬建 2003年10月 • Donated and built by Chinese American Mr. Yang Yezhun in October 2003

40. Consequences for children of sending and return? • Rong et al. (2007) Fuzhou Normal University: preschool “sent-back” children raised by grandparents lower on cognitive and socioemotional assessments than children being raised by own parents. • Why? • Large generational differences in China: education, rural / urban origins, human capital, wages. • Implications for parenting practices (Rong et al. preschool feeding story; Nanjing project) • Possible implications for attachment • Long-term implications for Fujianese-origin children following returns to US unknown; reports of behavior problems in NY Head Start • Contributions to lower psychological well-being later in life?

41. NYC contexts: Employment • Parental Employment of undocumented Fujianese: Nearly entirely restricted to restaurants • Restaurant pathway to economic mobility for Fujianese: • 70-80K monthly take (NYC) • 60-70K start up for storefront restaurant, 400K for buffet • “She told me every visit that one of her friends owns 3 buffet restaurants and is thinking of opening a 4th.” • Typically 12+ hours a day of work plus commute; 6 days a week • Average work hours for Chinese (63.6) > MX > DR and AA • Wage / hours violations extremely common (Ollie’s; Saigon Grill; Silver Palace cases) • Extremely high mobility across eastern U.S. – snakeheads, E Broadway employment agencies. • Network lending, but doesn’t want to participate in formal lending pool: “but if someone runs away there goes the organization.”

42. Yolanda

43. Yolanda • Early 30’s, living in E Harlem, came 5 years ago • Grew up in Puebla in a village outside city • Oldest; received “order” from husband Horacio (already in US) that he had arranged for her crossing; came within a week. “I had no choice.” • 3 children, Angel (3), Lucero (7), and Jorge (11), one of whom (the middle one) is husband’s child with another woman

44. Yolanda • Horacio: Restaurant delivery, work-related injury – dream to become a taxi driver – “doesn’t want his son now that he is older to see him as his father who never amounted to anything.” • Drives friend’s gypsy cab but spends hours not picking up customers. No access to taxi license in NY (SSN). • Quits job to go to MD to find work – they give out drivers’ licenses there to undocumented? • Horacio doesn’t want Yolanda to work more than P/T. • She reaches a point in which “me empezo a pisar, y yo saque las uñas.” • Yolanda: Food Stamps for children but hides this from Horacio; he’s “man enough” to provide for his family. • US economic hardship driven by emergency remittance needs in MX.

45. Yolanda • Housing – ceiling of BR; trash cans. • Rats, cockroaches and mold “no matter how much she cleans and disinfects.” Repairs only when building inspected. • No quiet lighted place for studying in house – Jorge and Lucero often get annoyed with Angel because he gets in their way when they try to do schoolwork. • Sometimes when depressed wants to kill herself.

46. Yolanda and her Family: Hypotheses • Experiences associated with undocumented status and child development? • 1) Lack of access to resources requiring identification • 2) Access to policy supports for children and families and take-up of policies for which children eligible • 3) Low quality and recourse in housing, work, and other contexts • Mechanisms of effects on young child development – economic hardship; parent psychological distress?

47. Access to institutional resources that require identification • Why are undocumented immigrant parents less likely to take up conditional cash transfers / formal job training? • 1) Formal exclusion (cf. NC community colleges) but also: • 2) Avoid accessing resources that require identification • Resources that require identification: • Formal banking (checking account, savings account) • Credit • Drivers’ license • Index measure

48. Do rates of access to resources requiring identification differ?

49. Conceptual Model: Access to Resources Requiring Identification Visual reception Economic hardship Ethnic/ immigrant group (Mexican 1stgen./ Dominican 1st gen./ AfAm U.S.-born); Mexicans higher rates of undocumented status than Dominicans Fine Motor Household- level Access to institutional resources Psychological distress Receptive Language Cognitive stimulation index Expressive Language

50. Figure 3. Institutional Resources Model: Full Sample. Economic hardship (14 mos.) Economic hardship (24 mos.) Fit Statistics 2(51) = 58.86 NNFI = .97 CFI = .98 RMSEA = .022 (.000 to .043) .46* .14t .22* -.28* Dominican (AfAm reference group) -.20* Mullen Early Learning Composite (24 mos.) .19* Psychological distress (14 mos.) Institutional resources (14 mos.) Psychological distress (24 mos.) .75* -.28* Mexican (AfAm reference group) -.21* -.20* Daily cogstim activities index (14 mos.) Daily cogstim activities index (24 mos.) .49* Notes: Paths in bold are statistically significant Numbers in diagram are standardized path coefficients