Philip Q. Yang

Explaining immigrant naturalization.

Prior research on immigrant naturalization has focused mainly on the effects of immigrants’ adaptation experiences and demographic characteristics on their propensity to naturalize. This article proposes a broader analytical framework which incorporates immigrants’ individual characteristics and larger social contexts in the country of origin and the country of destination to explain the likelihood of citizenship acquisition. The framework is tested for a cohort of recent immigrants, using the PUMS data from the 1980 U.S. census. The results show that economic, political, social, cultural and geographical conditions in the country of origin, and immigrants ethnic communities and urban concentration in the country of destination, to a large extent influence immigrants’ propensity for naturalization and that, net of the contextual factors, many of the immigrants’ adaptation and demographic characteristics are also significant predictors of citizenship acquisition. The costs, benefits and meaning of naturalization and their intervening roles in the naturalization process are also discussed.

Global interaction, global inequality, and migration of the highly trained to the United States.

Following recent attempts to link migration of the highly trained to broader global processes, we argue that national variation in the size of highly trained migration can be explained by interaction and inequality between nations, both reflecting the process of global integration. Guided by this analytical framework, we tested the structural determinants of highly skilled migration to the United States. The evidence confirms our hypotheses that economic and educational interactions between sending countries and the United States increase the flow of the highly trained to the United States. Results also provide mixed proof for our hypotheses that levels of professional migration are positively associated with disparities between sending countries and the United States in living conditions, research conditions, childrens educational opportunities, political conditions, and professional employment opportunities.

The Case for Staying Home Myth or Reality

Recent US media reports about a new trend in returning home among married women with children, especially college-educated ones, have raised questions about the well-documented trends of increasing labor force participation among married women with young and minor children in the US. Using both cohort and period data from the 1994 and 2002 General Social Surveys, this study examines whether there is a reverse trend in staying home among married women with young children under the age of six and those with school-age children aged six to 17. Results of trend analyses by cohort and by period and multinomial logistic regression analysis indicate that there is no reverse trend in staying home among married women with young children as a whole, but the evidence does point to a new trend in staying home among married women with young children and a bachelors or higher degree. For married women with school-age children as a whole and those with a bachelors or higher degree, there appears to be mostly statistically insignificant changes in staying home across time periods and among the new generation. The study also finds declines in stay-home rates from 1994 to 2002 especially among less-educated, low-income or African-American married women with young children and to a less extent those with school-age children. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Post-1965 immigration to the United States : structural determinants

List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction Post-1965 Immigration to the United States: Background, Trends, and Cross-National Variations Structural Determinants of Cross-National Variation in Immigration: A Theoretical Overview Data and Methodology Structural Determinants of Cross-National Variation in Total Immigration to the U.S.: A Cross-National Analysis General Applicability of the Analytical Framework Conclusion Appendix A: Immigration Preference Systems Appendix B: Countries and Their Classifications Used in the Analyses Appendix C: Measurement Models for Latent Variables in Final Causal Models Selected Bibliography

Generational Differences in Educational Attainment among Asian Americans

Past research has focused on generational differences in school performance among Asian American students. Do generational differences in educational attainment crystallize in adulthood among Asian Americans? Is there any gender difference in the trajectory of educational attainment across generations? This paper addresses these two questions using the cumulative file of the 1994-1999 Current Population Surveys. The multivariate results reveal complex trajectories. For adult Asians as a whole, holding relevant factors constant, the level of educational attainment increases from the first generation to the second generation but declines in the third generation. Moreover, there is a sharp gender difference in trajectory. For Asian women, the same nonlinear pattern as observed in the total sample emerges. For Asian men, the level of educational attainment decreases over generations. These results lend support to the immigrant aspiration hypothesis and the receptive environment hypothesis but challenges the classic assimilation theory. Changes in relative gender equality in status and education opportunity between home and host countries may help explain the gender differences in the path of educational mobility across generations. The result also points to the importance of gender in the study of educational attainment across generations.

Ethnicity and naturalization

Abstract This article examines whether or not ethnicity has an independent effect on the likelihood of immigrant naturalization using the Public Use Microdata Sample [PUMS] data from the 1980 US Census. Ethnic differences in the propensity to become naturalized US citizens were analysed among four panethnic groups and across thirty‐three major ethnic groups. The results point to the continuing significance of ethnicity in the naturalization process. However, the effect of ethnicity is not as strong as the effects of other structural factors. Three hypotheses that attempt to explain ethnic differences in the propensity for naturalization were also tested. The evidence lends strong support to the forced self‐protection hypothesis, but it provides no support for the discrimination hypothesis and the cultural differences hypothesis.

Illegal Drug Use Among Asian American Youths in Dallas

Abstract Asian Americans have often been perceived as the “model minority” that is relatively immune to the problem of illegal drug use. This paper examines the patterns and determinants of illegal drug use among first and second-generation Asian American youths in Dallas-an area with rapid Asian population growth. Through a targeted survey, we have found a very high rate of cumulative drug use and a significant rate of current drug use. We have also detected some intra-Asian differences in drug abuse among major Asian groups. The results of our statistical analysis identify several possible correlates of current Asian drug abuse, including gender, differential association, parental warning, GPA, type of neighborhood, and high-school quality.

The Demand for Immigration to the United States

This paper examines trends and cross-national variation in the active demand for immigration to the United States in the period of 1984–1993, using data from the Visa Office and various other sources. The analysis is restricted to legal immigration in numerically limited categories. The results show that the total number of active immigrant visa applicants steadily increased in the aggregate and in each of the preference categories. Moreover, the active demand for immigration was highly skewed, with the majority of applications coming from a dozen countries: Mexico, the Philippines, India, mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Hong Kong, and Pakistan. Most of these highly-backlogged countries displayed a significant increase in the growth rate of demand for immigration. The paper also shows a substantial cross-national variation in the active demand for immigration and explores its structural determinants. The regression results indicate that the level of economic development in sending countries and U.S. economic and cultural relations with sending countries play important roles in the determination process. Policy implications of the findings are also discussed.

Citizenship Acquisition of Post-1965 Asian Immigrants

This article examines the citizenship acquisition of major post-1965 Asian immigrant groups including Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Asian Indians, Koreans, and Vietnamese, using the PUMS data from the 1990 U.S. Census and an INS longitudinal data set. The analysis of data reveals a very high average naturalization rate of post-1965 Asian immigrants and a bifurcated pattern in citizenship acquisition among the six Asian immigrant groups. Furthermore, the results of a pooled logistic regression model indicate that the characteristics of Asian immigrants, ethnic communities, and countries of origin largely explain the naturalization of these Asian immigrants. Separate logistic regression models for the six groups further uncover similarities and differences in determinants of naturalization across groups. The findings suggest that in terms of naturalization rates new Asian immigrants are more assimilable than most immigrant groups, including European immigrants, and that in the foreseeable future Asian Americans are likely to become a swing vote at the local and possibly state levels and perhaps in presidential elections under some special circumstances. The findings also point to commonality and diversity in determinants of citizenship acquisition among post-1965 Asian immigrants.

Quality of Post-1965 Asian Immigrants

The reliance on an overall average approach to the labor market quality of immigrants could generate misleading information and biased policy recommendations. Focusing on Asian immigrants, this article demonstrates that much insight into immigrant quality can be gained via a diversity approach. Using the 5% PUMS data of the 1990 U.S. census, this paper shows that a common perception that the quality of post-1965 immigrants is lower than natives and earlier immigrants is invalid for post-1965 Asian immigrants. Unlike their Latin American counterparts, post-1965 Asian immigrants are generally more educated and skilled than natives. The educational level of post-1965 Asian immigrants surpasses that of their pre-1965 counterparts, despite their disadvantage in occupational attainment due to their shorter time of adaptation. Diversity also characterizes educational and occupational attainment across major post-1965 Asian immigrant groups and within each Asian immigrant group before and after 1965. Gender does not alter the advantage of post-1965 Asian immigrants over natives and their pre-1965 parallels in education, but it does complicate their occupational status. Policy implications of the findings are considered.