White Flight Revisited: A Multiethnic Perspective on Neighborhood Out-Migration

Using geo-linked data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the decennial census, we compare probabilities of neighborhood out-migration for Anglos, blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans by varying ethno-racial neighborhood compositions. Analyses for Latinos are disaggregated by nativity status. The results indicate that Anglos have a higher likelihood of moving when they have many minority neighbors and there is little difference whether minority neighbors are black or Latino. Among minorities there is some evidence of “minority flight” from whiter neighborhoods. Cubans, especially foreign-born Cubans, demonstrate the strongest propensity to flee neighborhoods with large black populations, whereas the probability of moving out decreases for Mexicans and Puerto Ricans when their neighbors are more likely to be black. Ethno-racial neighborhood composition has little effect on blacks’ decision to leave their neighborhood.

Underemployment and economic disparities among minority groups

This article examines the interracial/ethnic differences in the United States in labor force positions among Puerto Ricans, blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Chinese, and Japanese. The analysis is based on the Labor Utilization Framework developed by Hauser, Sullivan, Clogg, and others and the 1980 US Census data. Our results show that these minority groups differ in the ways in which they are utilized in the labor Iorce and that differential economic consequences are associated with interracial/ethnic differences in labor force utilization. In general, over 40 percent of the members of each of the minority groups are underemployed in the labor market in one way or another, though the ways in which they are underemployed vary. In particular, blacks and Puerto Ricans are hardest hit by labor force nonparticipation and by high rates of sub-unemployment and unemployment. Mexicans do not seem to be particularly hard hit by joblessness, but they fall disproportionately in categories of partial or low-wage employment. Chinese are most disadvantaged in adequate employment, but this disadvantage seems to be offset by high rates of low-wage employment and occupational mismatch. Cubans and Japanese have a relatively higher rate of adequate employment than other groups, and, at the same time, they manage to bypass the disadvantages of joblessness through occupational mismatch. These patterns of interracial/ethnic disparities persist in the labor market even after controlling for education and age. Another significant finding is that some forms of underemployment offer fewer disadvantages than others. Occupational mismatch, for example, may be an effective way to bring about substantial positive economic consequences.     

Paradox lost: Explaining the hispanic adult mortality advantage

We tested three competing hypotheses regarding the adult "Hispanic mortality paradox": data artifact, migration, and cultural or social buffering effects. On the basis of a series of parametric hazard models estimated on nine years of mortality follow-up data, our results suggest that the "Hispanic" mortality advantage is a feature found only among foreign-born Mexicans and foreign-born Hispanics other than Cubans or Puerto Ricans. Our analysis suggests that the foreign-born Mexican advantage can be attributed to return migration, or the "salmon-bias" effect. However, we were unable to account for the mortality advantage observed among other foreign-born Hispanics.     

Immigrant characteristics and Hispanic-Anglo housing inequality

This paper seeks to explain why Hispanic households in the United States live in housing markedly inferior to Anglos’. I argue that immigrant characteristics of Hispanic households and the metropolitan areas in which Hispanics live play important roles in determining such inequality in the housing market. Empirical analyses of homeownership, household crowding, and housing costs demonstrate that immigration plays a role in explaining relatively low homeownership and high household crowding for each of four large Hispanic populations (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Hispanics). The role of immigrant characteristics in determining housing costs is much weaker.     

Latino,Asian, and black segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas: Are multiethnic metros different*

This study examines 1990 residential segregation levels and 1980–1990 changes in segregation for Latinos, Asians, and blacks in U.S. metropolitan areas. It also evaluates the effect of emerging multiethnic metropolitan area contexts for these segregation patterns. While black segregation levels are still well above those for Latinos and Asians, there is some trend toward convergence over the decade. More than half of the areas increased their Latino segregation levels over the 1980s, and almost three-fourths increased their Asian segregation levels. In contrast, black segregation levels decreased in 88%ofmetropolitan areas. Multiethnic metropolitan area context is shown to be important for internal segregation dynamics. Black segregation levels are lower, and were more likely to decline in multiethnic metropolitan areas and when other minority groups grew faster than blacks. Latino segregation was also more likely to decline in such areas, and declines in both Latino and Asian segregation were greater when other minority groups were growing. These findings point up the potential for greater mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity coresidence in the neighborhoods of multiethnic metropolitan areas.     

Racial Differences in Neighborhood Attainment: The Contributions of Interneighborhood Migration and <Emphasis Type="Italic">In Situ</Emphasis> Change

Recent research shows that as they age, blacks experience less improvement than whites in the socioeconomic status of their residential neighborhoods. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and U.S. decennial censuses, we assess the relative contribution of residential mobility and in situ neighborhood change (i.e., change surrounding nonmobile neighborhood residents) to the black-white difference in changes in neighborhood socioeconomic status and racial composition. Results from decomposition analyses show that the racial difference in in situ neighborhood change explains virtually all the black-white difference in neighborhood socioeconomic status change. In contrast, racial differences in residential mobility explain the bulk of the black-white difference in neighborhood racial compositional change. Among blacks and whites initially residing in low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods, whites experience a much greater increase than blacks in the socioeconomic status of their neighborhoods and the percentage of their neighbors who are non-Hispanic white. These differences are driven primarily by racial differences in the economic and racial composition of local (intracounty) movers’ destination neighborhoods and secondarily by black-white differences in the likelihood of moving long distances.     

Residential Mobility Across Early Childhood and Children’s Kindergarten Readiness

Understanding residential mobility in early childhood is important for contextualizing family, school, and neighborhood influences on child well-being. We examined the consequences of residential mobility for socioemotional and cognitive kindergarten readiness using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a nationally representative longitudinal survey that followed U.S. children born in 2001 from infancy to kindergarten. We described individual, household, and neighborhood characteristics associated with residential mobility for children aged 0–5. Our residential mobility indicators examined frequency of moves, nonlinearities in move frequency, quality of moves, comparisons between moving houses and moving neighborhoods, and heterogeneity in the consequences of residential mobility. Nearly three-quarters of children moved by kindergarten start. Mobility did not predict cognitive scores. More moves, particularly at relatively high frequencies, predicted lower kindergarten behavior scores. Moves from socioeconomically advantaged to disadvantaged neighborhoods were especially problematic, whereas moves within a ZIP code were not. The implications of moves were similar across socioeconomic status. The behavior findings largely support an instability perspective that highlights potential disruptions from frequent or problematic moves. Our study contributes to literature emphasizing the importance of contextualizing residential mobility. The high prevalence and distinct implications of early childhood moves support the need for further research.     

Parental structure experiences of children: Exposure,transitions, and type at birth

This paper examines parental structure experiences during childhood and adolescence of non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans born 1957 to 1964. The study shows that the parental structure types most commonly experienced are mother-father, mother only, and mother-stepfather. The study also finds that a significant proportion of children move into a mother-only family and do not leave it. Finally, the study shows that the parental structure experiences of children are strongly influenced by their parental structure at birth.A version of this paper was presented at the meetings of the American Sociological Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1992.     

Migration and premarital childbearing among Puerto Rican women

This paper examines the relationship between migration and premarital childbearing in a highly migratory Latino subgroup, Puerto Rican women. Using pooled origin-destination data from surveys conducted in Puerto Rico and in the New York metropolitan area, we find that first- and second-generation migrants to the u.s. mainland face substantially higher risks of conceiving and bearing a first child before marriage than do nonmigrants in Puerto Rico. This pattern is due largely to the relatively early transition to sexual activity among mainland women. Given the negative long-term consequences of premarital childbearing for women and their children, our findings call into question the assumption that migrants necessarily experience only positive outcomes as a result of the assimilation process.     

“Scratchin’ and Surviving” or “Movin’ on Up?” Two Sources of Change in Children’s Neighborhood SES

This research investigates the extent to which racial and ethnic inequality in children’s neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is exacerbated or attenuated via two mechanisms: changing neighborhood characteristics for residentially nonmobile children, and differences in the SES of destination versus origin neighborhoods for residentially mobile children. I use longitudinal data to estimate year-to-year change via these two mechanisms in four measures of neighborhood SES for white, black, and Latino children. I find that nonmobile white children experience greater improvement in neighborhood SES than statistically comparable black and Latino children. However, I find lower levels of inequality in neighborhood SES returns to residential mobility; in fact, in many cases those returns are greater for minority children than for white children. These findings suggest that continued inequality in children’s neighborhood contexts is not due primarily to inequality in outcomes of residential moves, but rather to the greater tendency of white children to reside in neighborhoods with higher levels of SES, and the greater likelihood of those neighborhoods to maintain or improve their levels of SES over time.

Housing Discrimination and Residential Mobility: Impacts for Blacks and Whites

We merge metropolitan-level measures of racial discrimination in housing markets derived from two national housing audit studies, along with tract-level 1980 census data, with the 1979-1985 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the impact of housing discrimination on patterns of residential mobility between neighborhoods of varying racial composition. We find no evidence that housing discrimination in the metropolitan area impedes African Americans' mobility into whiter neighborhoods. Contrary to expectations, in multivariate analyses based on black movers, the level of housing discrimination is positively associated with the percentage of the population that is white in the tract of destination. Housing discrimination against African Americans is positively associated with the rate at which mobile white households move into whiter census tracts. These findings imply that eliminating racial discrimination by real estate and rental agents will fail to increase black residential mobility into racially-mixed and predominantly white neighborhoods. For both black and white households, life-cycle factors, such as age, children, and home ownership, impede mobility out of the current neighborhood. Conditional upon moving, socioeconomic resources, such as education and income, facilitate mobility into whiter neighborhoods.     

Dynamics of Spanish-Language Neighborhoods in Chicago and Atlanta: 1990–2000

This study examines and compares how the spatial arrangements of Spanish speakers have changed over time in a traditional immigrant gateway, Chicago, and in an emerging immigrant gateway, Atlanta. Using the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census data, spatial autocorrelation analysis confirms that Spanish-language neighborhoods continue to be in the city and the suburbs of Chicago. Atlanta’s Spanish-language neighborhoods, on the other hand, are mainly located in the suburbs where major growth took place over the decade. However, Spanish-language neighborhoods in both the city and suburbs of Atlanta and Chicago share similar characteristics: higher percentages of residents who are foreign-born and limited English proficient, and households with low levels of income. While the model of spatial assimilation is still relevant to our understanding of residential patterns among contemporary immigrants and their descendants, the interpretation of findings, including those for new destinations such as Atlanta where large-scale immigration occurred after suburbanization, should place less emphasis on the central city/suburb distinction and suburban homogeneity. The growing diversity in language use among residents necessitates the provision of accessible social services and information.     

The labor supply of Latinas in the USA: Comparing labor force participation, wages, and hours worked with Anglo and Black women

This study explores the determinants of labor supply patterns among Latinas in the USA. We use recent microeconomic data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics/Latino National Political Survey (PSID-LNPS) to estimate models of labor force participation, wages, and hours worked for a sample of Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican women. We estimate the same models for Anglo and Black women in order to explore ethnic differences in the impact of characteristics affecting both the reservation and the market wage. We find that differences exist in the return to characteristics, such as education, but that there are also substantial differences in the levels of those characteristics across ethnic groups. The low wage rates and labor market activity of Latinas relative to Anglo and Black women are thus likely to be the combined result of lower investments in human capital and larger family size, the greater negative impact of macroeconomic conditions, and a stronger responsiveness to wages. Among Latinas, we find that there are differences in labor market outcomes between national origin and nativity groups. We also find that age at arrival and years in the USA play a role in labor supply, and that this is particularly true for Puerto Rican women.     

Race,wages, and assimilation among Cuban immigrants

This study uses data from the 1980 and 1990 Census and the 1994–2000 Current Population Survey to examine the determinants of earnings among male Cuban immigrants in the U.S. by race. Nonwhite Cuban immigrants earn about 15 percent less than whites, on average. Much of the racial wage gap is due to differences in educational attainment, age at migration, and years in the U.S., but the gap remains at almost 4 percent after controlling for such factors. Nonwhite Cuban immigrants also have lower returns to education than whites. A comparison to white, non-Hispanic U.S. natives indicates that nonwhite Cubans not only earn less initially than white Cubans on arrival in the U.S., but also do not significantly close the racial earnings gap over time.     

Residential segregation in American cities: a review and interpretation

Significant levels of separation between blacks and whites still exist in large American cities, and debate about the causes of that residential separation has been considerable. A balanced analysis of the factors that might explain residential segregation - economic status (affordability), social preferences, urban structure, and discrimination - suggests that no one factor can account for the patterns that have arisen in U.S. metropolitan areas. Empirical estimation of the impact of economic status suggests that 30–70 percent of racial separation is attributable to economic factors. However, economic factors do not act alone, but in association explanatory weight for present residential patterns. Survey evidence from both national and local studies shows that black households prefer neighborhoods that are half black and half white, while whites prefer neighborhoods ranging from 0 to 30 percent black.The debate about causes seems most polarized over the role of discrimination. Although comments in the literature often focus on the past use of racially restrictive covenants by state-regulated agencies and discriminatory acts by realtors and financial institutions, the documented individual cases of discrimination do not appear to be part of a massive collusion to deny housing opportunities to minorities. A review of the evidence from social science investigations demonstrates that there are multiple causes of racial residential separation in U.S. metropolitan areas.An earlier version of this paper was presented to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C., November 12, 1985.     

Patterns of Entry into Cohabitation and Marriage Among Mainland Puerto Rican Women*

This paper adds to our limited knowledge of racial and ethnic variation in union formation by describing and analyzing the first unions of mainland Puerto Rican women. Retrospective history data show that Puerto Ricans have shared in the post-1970 shift toward cohabitation. Puerto Rican women, however, are much more likely to enter informal first unions than the general population, and have a low propensity to transform informal unions into legal marriages. The paper examines the influence of family background and current activities on union timing and type. The relationship between partner attributes and the choice between formal and informal coupling is also considered.     

Metropolitan school desegregation: Impact on racial integration of neighborhoods in the United States

Research on school desegregation in U.S. cities has focused on the issues of white flight and the potential for racial residential integration of segregated neighborhoods. There is also concern over the effectiveness of a metropolitan desegregation plan for racial integration as against a plan which encompasses only the central city of urban areas. This paper deals with a court-ordered metropolitan school desegregation plan in New Castle County, Delaware. The method used is an examination of 602 small geographic areas (grids); the objective is to examine the extent of residential out-migration of students from the central city and to examine whether there is any tendency toward racial residential integration in the county. Evidence suggests (a) that the central city grids are retaining white students but losing black students and (b) that the level of racial segregation of suburban neighborhoods is not declining.We conclude from preliminary data that with each succeeding year, internal relocation, rather than moves to private school and out-migration from the metropolitan area, will be the major characteristic of student redistribution. If this is the case, the extent to which intra-system relocation results in racially integrated and stable neighborhoods should be a major research and policy focus.     

Contraception,attitude-practice,and fertility differentials among US Hispanic,African–American and white women

Hispanic fertility (primarily among nationals from Mexico, Central and South America in the US) is higher today than it is in Mexico and the other nations of origin (Frank and Heuveline 2005). It persists into the second and third generations, with only moderate signs of declining to replacement. Meanwhile, the fertility rates of African–Americans, American Indians Cubans, and Puerto Ricans have all declined to replacement, only slightly above the non-Hispanic white population. This study attempts to clarify the question why African–American fertility has declined to replacement, but Hispanic fertility has not. The data used are from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) of 2002. Differences in physiological or marital-status factors are found not to explain these fertility differences; however, there are significant differences in the practice of contraception during early childbearing years. Slightly less effective methods if contraception is used, and less recourse to abortion if a pregnancy is undesired, all imply higher fertility for Hispanic women. Underlying contraceptive behaviour are sets of attitudes and motives that favour, permit, or seek childbearing. A much higher percentage of Hispanic than African–American women report that they wanted their last birth and intend to have another in the future. Hispanic women of all socio-economic statuses are considerably more pronatal in their attitudes, particularly with respect to the births of first and second children.     

Gender and the Residential Mobility and Neighborhood Attainment of Black-White Couples

Including black-white couples in the study of residential stratification accentuates gendered power disparities within couples that favor men over women, which allows for the analysis of whether the race of male partners in black-white couples is associated with the racial and ethnic composition of their neighborhoods. I investigate this by combining longitudinal data between 1985 and 2015 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics linked to neighborhood- and metropolitan-level data compiled from four censuses. Using these data, I assess the mobility of black male–white female and white male–black female couples out of and into neighborhoods defined respectively by their levels of whites, blacks, and ethnoracial diversity. My results show that the race of the male partner in black-white couples tends to align with the racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhoods where these couples reside. This finding highlights that the racial hierarchy within the United States affects the residential mobility and attainment of black-white couples, but its influence is conditioned by the race and gender composition of these couples.     

Racial residential segregation in the sun belt

In recent years demographic researchers have devoted considerable attention to two topics: (1) migration to the sun belt and (2) racial and economic transformation of neighborhoods. This study addresses both, and develops a theoretical and analytical model to test the relationship of intra-urban and inter-urban migration patterns as they relate to race and social class. The study measures and analyzes patterns of racial and economic transition in neighborhoods for two Oklahoma SMSAs. Comparisons are made between differential degrees of residential segregation accounted for by in-migrants, utilizing U.S. Census tracts for 1970 and 1980. The model, once specified and evaluated, demonstrates that patterns and factors traditionally associated with residential segregation may have less relevance forsun belt cities in the coming decades.