Nativity,duration of residence and the life course pattern of extended family living in the USA

Recent changes in US immigration policy anddomestic welfare policies affecting immigrants haveled to concerns that families will face greaterpressure to provide for extended family members.Extended family households are important resources fornew immigrants to the USA and an integral part of theadaptive strategy of immigrants. This paper examinesthe competing roles of duration of residence in theUSA, aging and changes over time in explainingincreases in extended family living between 1980 and1990. The results from a pooled sample of 1980 and1990 Census data indicate that recent arrivals aremore likely to share households with extended kin butit is older immigrants who face an increasedlikelihood of such coresidence over time. Multinomiallogistic regression analysis demonstrates that thelife course pattern of coresidence remains whenchanges in socioeconomic status are controlled. Theresults suggest that policy changes limiting publicfunds available to new arrivals will have a largerimpact on families sponsoring older family members.